New reforms have been set forth to improve the sanitary conditions of its salmon industry and reduce the levels of antibiotics used to treat the fish. It is true that Chile exports more salmon to the United States than to any other country besides Japan. But recently it has drawn sharp criticism from environmentalists and other experts in recent months as a virus has killed millions of its salmon. The illness, infectious salmon anemia, or I.S.A., continues to spread, underscoring how the crowded conditions of Chile’s fish farms and other sanitary concerns are giving rise to a variety of fungal and bacterial fish ailments.
This move of Chilean government was appreciated by environmentalists and industry officials. They said that it will clean up the industry and reduce antibiotic use. Hugo Lavados, Chile’s economy minister, opined that after almost four months of study, a government panel identified steps that would ease conditions in crowded salmon pens and provide greater protection against the introduction of high-risk illnesses in salmon eggs.
According to him the “intensive” use of antibiotics, although legal in Chile, needed to change and that a specific plan for lowering levels would be finalized by December. Dr. Felipe C. Cabello, expert in Chile’s fishing industry, expressed that this step is in the right direction. Dr Cabello has said that Chilean salmon producers are using an estimated 70 to 300 times more antibiotics to produce a ton of salmon in Chile than are their counterparts in Norway.
Alex Muñoz, vice president for South America for Oceana, told that the unsafe use of antibiotics in salmon pens threatens Chile’s oceans and access to the U.S. seafood market. He argued that the misguided use of antibiotics could increase bacterial resistance to them. Marine Harvest, a Norwegian company operating fish farms in Chile, continues to be the most affected by the spread of the virus, says Alvaro Jimenez Seminario, Marine Harvest’s managing director.
