WWF Salmon Dialogue in Santiago
Last week Santiago hosted the 3-day International Dialogue on Salmon Farming, part of an ongoing dialogue series initiated by the World Wildlife Fund. This was the eighth such dialogue since 2004 and the second held in Chile. The dialogue was conducted by the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (NGO, Canada), Fundación Terram (NGO, Chile), Marine Harvest, National Environmental Trust (NGO, USA), the Norwegian Seafood Federation, SalmonChile, Salmon of the Americas, Skretting and the WWF-United States. The meeting objective was to review and discuss two salmon farming reports produced on behalf of the WWF: 1) The principal environmental impacts generated from nutrient loading and how to determine nutrient carrying capacity in the various types of fresh water salmon production sites (lakes, rivers, land based production), and 2) The current status of use of chemicals and the corresponding regulations of use in the salmon farming industries in Chile, Norway, Scotland and Canada; and an examination how harmful these chemicals may be to the ecosystem (antibiotics, metals, disinfectants, antiparasitics and anesthetics). A concern that took centre stage was the conclusion drawn by the authors of the second report, regarding the use of chemical products. Scotland received the best evaluation for information transparency and availability, followed by Norway; whereas Canada and Chile were criticized for a lack of such information.
