Marine Harvest cuts 1,500 jobs in Chile

Kate Casey Seven months later, Marine Harvest Chile’s debut video must be a jagged little pill for most to take. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5IpaU9upQw . Ironic isn’t it, that the country’s (and the world’s) largest salmon-farming company buckled under the power of something smaller than a germ. The magnitude of damage caused by the ISA virus has spread well beyond the confines of fish cages, although it is common knowledge that ISA is not entirely to blame. Rather, it is the straw that broke the camel’s back, following years of escalating health and sanitary problems throughout the salmon industry. In light of this situation, Marine Harvest Chile had the terrible luck of being situated within a “Bermuda triangle” of adverse sanitary conditions, and what happened to the company could have happened to any other. And what really happened is a tragedy of the commons scenario for Chile’s salmon industry. Years of pushing the limit, pushing the limit in terms of production density, and the consequences are now running its course. And as with any economic model, there’s a need to hire people when production is going good and a need to fire people when it isn’t. Marine Harvest is practically a household name in Chile’s salmon region, and it will be interesting to see all of the indirect affects that the company’s cutbacks will cause. For many professionals in the company the news comes as music to their ears, as there is interest in other salmon companies to acquire valuable expertise and information from Marine Harvest ex-employees. Chile’s spokesperson Beatriz Rios emphasized that the closures and cutbacks “are temporary”, and that the company is not abandoning Chile’s Tenth region.