News from fishfarmingxpert.com

SSPO condemn illegal use of nets UK: A former salmon farmer has been fined for illegal use of nets that could have killed seals. Graham McNally, who is the regional manager of Meridian Salmon Farms in Shetland, pleaded guilty at Lerwick Sheriff Court to using two illegal nets around salmon cages in Shetland which could have resulted in the death of grey or common seals, as they hunted out valuable salmon stocks. He was fined £800 for an offence under Conservation (Natural Habitats) Regulations 1994. Commenting on the verdict of Lerwick Sheriff Court, Scott Landsburgh, chief executive of the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation, said: “There is no place in the Scottish salmon farming industry for anyone who flouts the law. We are justifiably proud of our standards of husbandry and this kind of incident is deeply regrettable. We fully support the Court’s findings.”

Multiexport is the largest Chilean producer of smoked salmon Chile: Salmones Multiexport has exported US$ 9.17 million of Atlantic salmon and Rainbow trout smoked products up to March this year, becoming the largest local producer of these preparations. According to the most recent quarterly report published by Multiexport, the company exported 40 percent of all the Chilean smoked salmonids in the period. The second largest smoked salmon producer in the country was Ventisqueros with US$ 5.0 million in the period, and followed by Mainstream Chile with US$ 3.5 million and Marine Harvest Chile with US$ 2.0 million. The local salmon producing companies exported US$ 22.8 million in smoked products in the first quarter of this year.

Eating farmed Atlantic salmon is good for you Canada: New studies announced by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirm that the consumption of farmed salmon significantly increases blood levels of health-promoting omega-3 fatty acids While this is not news to the educated fish consumer, it might help consumers that have been inundated with negative information about the merits of choosing farmed salmon for dinner, lunch or breakfast. The list of benefits to human health from eating fatty fish like farmed salmon is long, but perhaps the most important benefit to the population in North America is the link between consumption and reduction in the risk of heart disease

GM salmon can breed with trout and harm ecosystem, warn scientists Genetically modified salmon can breed with wild trout to produce a new fast growing fish that can harm natural species, scientists have warned, the Telegraph reports. According to the newspaper, the researchers fear that plans to farm a new type of GM salmon that grows faster than normal salmon may result in some of the animals escaping into streams and rivers. They conducted a study to examine the impacts that such an escape would have on natural habitats. The salmon, which have been developed by a Canadian firm and are expected to be given approval for sale as food in the US, could mate with wild brown trout. AquaBounty, a Canadian biotechnology firm, has spent 17 years developing a type of Atlantic salmon that will reach full size in half the time of wild salmon. Dr Krista Oke, who led the work at the department of biology at McGill University in Quebec, Canada, said it demonstrated transmission and ecological consequences from interspecific hybridisation between a GM animal and a naturally hybridising species. “Ultimately, hybridisation of transgenic fishes with closely related species represents potential ecological risks for wild populations,” she told the newspaper The researchers, whose work is published in the journal Proceedings of The Royal Society B, warned that any attempts to farm GM salmon should carefully assess the risks to the wider environment should they escape.

Pescanova would use US$ 71 million credit to pay local debts Chile: Deloitte would use a US$ 71 million credit to pay liabilities of the Pescanova subsidiaries in Chile and to provide continuity to those branches of the Spanish giant (Pesca Chile, Acuinova and Nova Austral).

According to the financial journal Diario Financiero, the administrator of Pescanova, Deloitte, has requested a loan of around US$ 71 million which would allow the company to maintain operations in its local subsidiaries -although those firms are in bankrupt in Chile. These resources would be mainly used in the payment to suppliers of the Pescanova subsidiaries in Chile, where it operates through Pesca Chile, which in turn controls the salmon producing companies Acuinova and Nova Austral. This credit would be the “minimum” required by the firm to meet its daily expenses for management and payment to suppliers, even though Pesca Chile is in bankrupt in our country and it is administered by the trustee Herman Chadwick. According to Spanish sources, these nearly US$ 71 million will be counted outside the firm’s bank debt, which totals around US$ 3,800 million. In other words, this credit will be considered as preferential debt, where banks will have preference to retrieve money from there. However, this credit is currently pending of approval by the banking sector.