Second major salmon company admits Chile ISA problems

Critics of Chile’s booming salmon industry have been saying for years – that the industry is overcrowded, polluting and - ultimately - unsustainable

Nov. 22, 2007

Following the example of industry leader Marine Harvest, a second major salmon company has now broken a virtual vow of silence that for months shrouded ongoing sanitary problems in Chile’s US$2.4 billion farmed fish sector.

In an interview that appeared Wednesday in the Chilean daily La Tercera, Francisco Atiza, the top Chilean representative of the salmon company Mainstream, said Chile’s sanitary problems are “real” but by no means limited to just Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA), a highly contagious fish virus detected this past July on several Chiloé fish farms. Mainstream, an affiliate of Norway’s Cermaq, is the world’s second largest farmed salmon company.

“The industry has a real sanitary problem that affects the development of the fish and contributes to poor production results. But the problem began long before ISA showed up. Ultimately this virus is a symptom, not the source of the problem,” he said....

Source: Second major salmon company admits Chile ISA problems

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