The Media Exaggerates
Victor Hugo Puchi, president of Empresas Aquachile S.A., expressed his irritation with the press over the current fish health issue in an interview with Intrafish. “We are in a more complex health situation than in other years but the press is exaggerating over the effects. Furthermore, they (the media) fail to mention the cooperative programs in development between many salmon companies to combat the diseases that are affecting certain areas, nor the introduction of new vaccines and medications to fight Caligus sp. (sea lice),” claims Puchi. He emphasized the point that salmon producers are currently working together to resolve disease problems in certain areas where caligus has become a more serious threat to fish health; and that vaccine companies such as Novartis and PHARMAQ have recently introduced new products specifically formulated to fight diseases specific to Chile. Although salmon companies are now working together to resolve the Caligus sp. issue, this cooperative disposition is a bit late. The article “Strong sea lice make for skinny salmon” (published on 04.05.07), states that when the breakthrough treatment emamectin benzoate was introduced in the 1990’s, the orginal sales team of the drug proposed a treatment program designed to mitigate Caligus sp. throughout specific geographic regions. But convincing all neighbouring salmon producers to invest in the new drug and make a joint effort of using it in a coordinated manner was nearly impossible. Today the Caligus sp. has developed resistance to emamectin benzoate and the fish density of salmon farms has increased.
