WWF urges Marine Harvest to move salmon farms out of Chilean lakes
According to a press release from WWF Chile, the announcement of Marine Harvest Chile came after the release of the report "Salmon Farming in the Lakes of Southern Chile - Valdivian Ecoregion: History, trends and impacts". This study raised awareness regarding the fragile state of the lakes and the urgent need for salmon companies to withdraw their production from there.
Instead of moving farms out of the lakes, WWF Chile claims that Marine Harvest Chile has presented two new projects before the Environmental Impact Assessment System (SEIA), to install farming sites on Lake Ranco, in the region of Los Lagos.
In this regard, Richard Bosshard, director of WWF Chile, said that "we cannot understand this decision, since Marine Harvest recognized in 2007 the importance of lakes as unique ecosystems in the country according to scientific information published by WWF Chile, and therefore the company declared it would stop using them".
Bosshard also said that "just like smolt production in lakes is almost nonexistent in Norway, and Marine Harvest publicly declares that has transferred their production out of lakes, today the trend in Chile is also to move out of lakes. At least, when it comes to Atlantic salmon, Marine Harvest is one of the few companies that continues its production in these ecosystems."
