Slight increase in sea lice abundances

Christian Pérez Between the eleventh and seventeenth week of this year, 29 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). In comparison, there were 75 sites in this condition in the same period of 2013. These sites with high abundances, known as Sites of Large Spread or CAD, are located exclusively in the regions of Aysén (20 sites) and Los Lagos (9 sites) not in other regions. From the 29 total CAD in Chile, only three site were farming Rainbow trout, while the rest was stocked with Atlantic salmon. Likewise, four sites were harvesting fish while the rest was in the process of fattening fish. In terms of companies, Acuinova, Blumar and Marine Harvest are the salmon producers with most CAD in the period, with 4 sites in this condition each company, and followed by Invermar, Los Fiordos and Cermaq, with 3 sites each company. 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.