Great Salmon Escape Threatens to Taint Chile's Fish Farms
- Latest environmental incident threatens local economies
- 250,000 fish recovered with 680,000 still missing after escape
A Marine Harvest salmon farm floats in Huelmo Bay near Puerto Montt, Chile, on Nov. 14, 2007.
Photographer: Diego Giudice/Bloomberg
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A massive salmon “spill” at a fish farm in southern Chile last week is once again tainting an industry that earned the country more than $4 billion last year.
About 900,000 salmon escaped from a Marine Harvest ASA farm during a storm on July 5, according to the Bergen, Norway-based company. The fish are not fit for consumption, Marine Harvest said in a . The company has recovered about 250,000 salmon and taken them to a nearby site, it said in a separate on July 9. About 680,000 fish are still missing and it is collaborating with the local Fisherman’s Federation to recover the remainder, Marine Harvest said.