A fish escape incident in 2019 where 26,531 fish escaped from a farm owned by Salmones Aysén was the first time such incident occurred over the 16 years the company has been in operation, the Chilean firm said.
“We want to highlight that we have been operating for 16 years, this being the only event of these characteristics that has occurred. Therefore, we reiterate our permanent commitment to the development of sustainable, modern and efficient salmon farming, which meets all standards for the protection and care of the environment,” it said.
Chile’s environment agency, Superintendencia del Medio Ambiente (SMA), initiated last week the sanction proceedings against the salmon producer for the incident.
It said the company’s first infraction, which it described as “very serious,” is based on the fact that the company did not maintain the minimum safety conditions of the farming gear that regulations required, which led to the escape of the fish. The second – less serious – offense is for the late implementation of contingency plan for fish escape.
But Salmones Aysen said it acted quickly after detecting what happened, resulting to the recovery of some of the fish. It said it is now analyzing in detail the charges made by the SMA before taking any further action.
