Nine sites with high abundances of sea lice in Chile

Christian Pérez Between the forty-ninth week of 2013 and third week of this year, nine farming sites have been reported as with an average abundance of adult lice (Caligus rogercresseyi) per fish equal or higher than 9 parasites per fish according to the National Service of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Sernapesca). These sites with high abundances, known as Sites of Large Spread or CAD, are located exclusively in the regions of Aysén (6 sites) and Los Lagos (3). From the 9 total CAD in Chile, only one site was farming Rainbow trout, while the rest was stocked with Atlantic salmon. Meanwhile, one site was harvesting fish while the rest was in the process of fattening fish. In terms of companies, Cermaq is the salmon producing company with most CAD in the period with 2 sites in this condition. According to the new sanitary programme of control and surveillance of Caligus, if a farming site is not able to reduce the abundance of sea lice below 9 adult lice per fish within 6 weeks after notification, there will be a mandatory elimination of 25% of the biomass in that site.