Virus, crisis: Perfect storm hits Chile salmon industry
By Simon Gardner PUERTO CHACABUCO, Chile (Reuters) – A deadly fish virus and scarce credit have clobbered the salmon sector in Chile, the world’s No. 2 producer, and industry workers like Cecilia Leue are panicked. Packing choice cuts of bright orange Atlantic salmon at a plant in the town of Puerto Chacabuco in Chilean Patagonia, dressed from head to toe in white plastic overalls, Leue has watched the industry shed 6,000 jobs since infectious salmon anemia (ISA) emerged in 2007. She worries she could be next "Fish is the only industry here. The issue of the ISA virus worries us a lot," the 20-year-old said through a mask. "Scarce work because of the ISA virus affects us all," she added, stacking packets of salmon destined for a supermarket in Germany. "We are all worried how the market will react." … Chile exported a record 445,000 tonnes of salmon and trout in 2008, worth just under $2.4 billion, up sharply from 2007 levels of 397,000 tonnes as salmon farmers harvested fish early to avoid ISA, which is like a deadly flu or cold for the most common Salar species, or Atlantic salmon. But Chile’s leading industry association, SalmonChile, expects output to fall around 30 percent in 2009 to around 320,000 tonnes because early harvesting will mean production gaps this year and sees similar output levels in 2010. … Chile’s salmon industry has faced a series of fish diseases in recent years, as well as algae. Multiexport Foods, a leading Chilean salmon producer, said on Wednesday it had been hit by an algae bloom in southern Chile that can kill fish via asphyxia. Its shares fell nearly 7 percent after the news. …
