Chile severely punishes Norwegian salmon producers
A Norwegian salmon producer has received a record $6.6 million fine from the government agency for improper maintenance that caused 690000 salmon fed with antibiotics to escape into the sea, Chile’s environmental protection agency said Monday. The fine, which totalled 5.3 billion pesos (about US $6.6 million), was linked to the “irreparable environmental damage caused by the escape of large numbers of salmon” at Cape Redonda fishing ground in Los Lagos, Chile, in 2018, AFP reported. Los Lagos is about 1000 kilometers south of Santiago, the capital of Chile. In that year, the net cages in that fishing ground were damaged in a storm, causing a large number of salmon to escape. The fishing ground is operated by Norway Meiwei group. For the punishment, Meiwei has a two-week appeal period, but has not issued a public statement. As salmon are aggressive predators, they pose a risk to the local environment, which may reduce the number of native species and change the food chain of the local ocean, according to the environmental protection department. In addition, those farmed salmon may also transmit the bacteria to other marine organisms and salmon from other fishing grounds. According to the world organization for the protection of the sea, Chile’s salmon farming industry ranks second in the world, just behind Norway, but the dosage of antibiotics used in salmon farming in Chile is far higher than that in Norway. (field)
