Chile: volcano rumblings put fish farmers on alert
Chilean aquaculture regulator Sernapesca is coordinating emergency planning with 25 fish farms near a volcano that has shown signs of activity.
The government’s natural disasters warning agency, ONEMI, issued a yellow alert for the Villarrica volcano in the Araucania region, which produces many of the smolts used by Chilean salmon farmers.
Sernapesca said it has arranged coordination with the companies present in the area, requesting contingency plans and evaluating possible movements of fish if the situation warrants.
Ring of Fire
Alicia Gallardo, national director of Sernapesca, said that “there are 25 fish farms operating in the area of influence of the volcano, which includes the municipalities of Villarrica, Pucón, Currarrehue and Panguipulli”.
Chile sits on the Ring of Fire, the volatile 25,000-mile zone that encircles the Pacific Ocean and includes the most seismically dangerous ground on the planet.
The unstable plate tectonics along the Ring produce some 90% of the world's earthquakes as well as most of its volcanic eruptions.
