Stocking densities will be set for each neighborhood
Among those tasks carried out in the first session of the National Aquaculture Commission (CNA), this agency discussed and approved the regulation of stocking densities, which will take effect in 2014.
In this regard, the Undersecretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Pablo Galilea, said that this regulation will establish a stocking density per group of concessions (aquaculture licenses) that depends on three elements: environmental and health performance in each concession during the past two-year period together with the future risk, which considers the possible impact of increasing the number of fish from one cycle to another.
In the case of the Atlantic salmon, the stocking density with this new regulation will be in ranges from 11 kg/m3 to 17 Kg/m3, while Coho salmon and trout will range from 8 Kg/m3 to 12 kg/m3, depending on these three factors.
According to the Undersecretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture, at the time of the sanitary crisis triggered by the ISA virus, the farming density in Chile was close to 30 kg/m3 per cage. "That crisis showed us that self-regulation does not work, so we have to address the risks associated with the projected growth of each neighborhood, in order to protect the sanitary heritage through these regulations," said Pablo Galilea.
