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NYT SKEWERS CHILEAN SALMON INDUSTRY FOR THIRD TIME
Written by Benjamin Witte
Monday, 16 February 2009
Chilean salmon under scrutiny once again
Photo by Benjamin Witte
For the third time in less than a year, the prestigious New York Times has turned its attention to Chile’s struggling farmed salmon industry, placing renewed focus on its alleged overuse of antibiotics and sparking a war of words between environmental groups and SalmonChile, the industry trade association.
The article, entitled “Chile Takes Steps To Rehabilitate Its Lucrative Salmon Industry,” explains how the once-booming industry now finds itself now in the midst of a prolonged slide that was first triggered in 2007 by a yet-to-be-contained outbreak of Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA). A highly contagious virus, ISA can be lethal to fish but does not affect humans.
ISA isn’t the only problem plaguing the US$2.2 billion industry, according to the New York Times. The article, published Feb. 4, suggests that the industry’s use of pesticides and antibiotics is beginning to draw critical attention from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which last April conducted a series of on-site inspections of Chilean salmon companies (PT, April 17, 2008).
During the trip FDA inspectors confirmed the use in Chile of chemical substances that are banned in the United States. One example is emamectin benzoate, a pesticide applied here to control sea lice. Also known as caligus, sea lice are parasitic crustaceans that attach themselves to fish, marking their hosts with ugly lesions that lessen their market value, stunt their growth and leave them prone to a variety of sometimes fatal illnesses.
Following the visit the FDA temporarily placed three companies – Empresas Aquachile, Alimentos Cuisine Solutions and Cultivadores de Salmones Linao Ltda. – on “import alert,” the New York Times reported.
Such FDA scrutiny poses a serious potential problem for the already hurting Chilean salmon industry, which depends heavily on the U.S. market. U.S. customers buy an estimated 38 percent of all Chile-raised salmon, purchasing approximately US$700 million worth annually.
“The salmon industry continues drawing attention from the national and international press, not for its successes or virtues but rather for its serious health and environmental problems,” Alex Muñoz Wilson, director of the environmental NGO Oceana, pointed out in a recent La Tercera opinion piece.
Those problems have already resulted in 5,000 layoffs, Muñoz explained. Some 10,000 more jobs could be lost this year. Salmon companies, meanwhile, are unable to secure loans, an “indicator of how little credibility the trade association (SalmonChile) enjoys,” he wrote.
“The new article confirms that neither the salmon industry nor the government has done enough to tackle the current environmental and health crisis,” said Muñoz. “This shows the lack of foresight by a business sector that, by ignoring health and environmental concerns, thought it could cut costs and thus be more competitive.”
SalmonChile President César Barros fired back in his own La Tercera piece. Accusing Muñoz of trying to “confuse the public,” Barros blasted Oceana and other environmental groups for failing to temper their constant criticisms with concrete proposals.
“Unfortunately, (Muñoz’) attitude isn’t any different than so many others that up to now have only been able to point fingers,” the SalmonChile head wrote. “Frankly, I think the time has come to tell all those people: ‘Enough! Let us do our job.’ If someone has something to say, they should get in the water and propose something better.”
The New York Times first reported on the Chilean salmon industry last March in a controversial article entitled “Salmon Virus Indicts Chile’s Fishing Methods.” Just days after the story went to print, U.S. food giant Safeway announced it would restrict purchases of Chilean salmon (PT, April 1, 2008).
Two months later the New York Times admitted it made a crucial reporting error while preparing the story (PT, May 13). The paper explained in a May 13 editor’s note that Adolfo Flores, a man cited in the article as a top Castro (Chiloé) port official, is in fact a security officer and should not, therefore, have been used as a source. In the article Flores described bags of fish food in a Marine Harvest facility as containing antibiotics, pigments and hormones.
By Benjamin Witte ( patagoniatimes@gmail.com This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Last Updated ( Monday, 16 February 2009 )
MORE LAYOFFS AHEAD FOR CHILE’S SALMON INDUSTRY
Written by Benjamin Witte
Friday, 30 January 2009
To avoid ISA, companies are harvesting salmon early
Photo by Benjamin Witte
Pesquera Camanchaca Announces Pending Closure Of Region VIII Factory
The new year has brought new signs of trouble for Chile’s once-booming farmed salmon industry, which after years of sustained growth now finds itself in a prolonged and costly slide that shows no signs of letting up soon.
The latest red flag came this week when salmon company Pesquera Camanchaca confirmed it will close a processing plant in Tomé, Region VIII. The closure, scheduled for March, will add approximately 1,800 layoffs to the already 7,000 jobs estimated to have been lost last year.
Camanchaca blames the move on Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA), a highly infectious and potentially deadly fish virus that first appeared in Chilean waters in mid 2007. ISA continues to spread throughout the country’s southern salmon farming regions.
In order to avoid infection, Camanchaca and other companies have been forced to harvest their fish prematurely. Camanchaca expects to complete its harvest by March. From then on, there simply won’t be any more fish, meaning the company’s Tomé processing plant will be without the raw material it needs to operate.
“Pesquera Camanchaca has been seriously affected by the ISA virus and, because of the disease, had to process its entire 2009 stock early,” said union leader Rosamel Sáez. “That’s left us without any fish to process, which is why the company decided to lay off everyone currently working in the plant. There are going to be 1,800 people without work.”
Camanchaca General Manager Francisco Cifuentes denied an interview request by the Patagonia Times but confirmed with Diario Finaciero earlier this week that “after March, we’re going to consider the Tomé plant closed.”
“So far in 2009 we’ve already processed 30,000 tons,” he said. “We’re harvested all we could before the fish got sick. We pushed the harvest ahead. During a normal year, those 30,000 tons would have stretched to June, easily.”
The closure is bad news indeed for Tomé, a coastal city of roughly 40,000 that in recent years has lost several large textile factories and, according to Mayor Eduardo Aguilar, already boasts a soaring unemployment rate of 20 percent.
“Today (Camanchaca) is the city’s principal source of jobs,” said Aguilar. “This is a dramatic situation. The closure will be terrible. We’re already experiencing a crisis due to the collapse of the textile industry.”
Tomé is by no means the only Chilean community to be hurt by the salmon industry’s dramatic downturn. Until last year, the industry enjoyed a sustained boom that, between 1991 and 2006, saw production expand by a staggering 2,200 percent. During the 15-year span thousands of jobs were created as the industry’s annual earnings rose from US$159 million to more than US$2.2 billion.
At the same time southern Chile’s economy – particularly in Regions X and to a lesser extent XI – became increasingly dependent on the surging salmon industry. Farmed salmon’s dominant influence, in other words, is now proving to be an Achilles heel for the regions, which are unable to provide alternative job opportunities for the expanding list of laid off salmon workers.
“Salmon is what moves this area,” said union head Doris Paredes of the Llanquihue chapter of the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT). “It’s the only industry that provides widespread employment, that is able to absorb the workforce. Because everything around here depends on salmon. Maybe on a national level, the layoffs taking place here aren’t that significant. But in terms of their local impact, they’re huge.”
By Benjamin Witte ( patagoniatimes@gmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Last Updated ( Friday, 30 January 2009 )
Jim's Fishing Charters
www.JimsFishing.com
http://ca.youtube.com/user/Sushihunter250
NYT SKEWERS CHILEAN SALMON INDUSTRY FOR THIRD TIME
Written by Benjamin Witte
Monday, 16 February 2009
Chilean salmon under scrutiny once again
Photo by Benjamin Witte
For the third time in less than a year, the prestigious New York Times has turned its attention to Chile’s struggling farmed salmon industry, placing renewed focus on its alleged overuse of antibiotics and sparking a war of words between environmental groups and SalmonChile, the industry trade association.
The article, entitled “Chile Takes Steps To Rehabilitate Its Lucrative Salmon Industry,” explains how the once-booming industry now finds itself now in the midst of a prolonged slide that was first triggered in 2007 by a yet-to-be-contained outbreak of Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA). A highly contagious virus, ISA can be lethal to fish but does not affect humans.
ISA isn’t the only problem plaguing the US$2.2 billion industry, according to the New York Times. The article, published Feb. 4, suggests that the industry’s use of pesticides and antibiotics is beginning to draw critical attention from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which last April conducted a series of on-site inspections of Chilean salmon companies (PT, April 17, 2008).
During the trip FDA inspectors confirmed the use in Chile of chemical substances that are banned in the United States. One example is emamectin benzoate, a pesticide applied here to control sea lice. Also known as caligus, sea lice are parasitic crustaceans that attach themselves to fish, marking their hosts with ugly lesions that lessen their market value, stunt their growth and leave them prone to a variety of sometimes fatal illnesses.
Following the visit the FDA temporarily placed three companies – Empresas Aquachile, Alimentos Cuisine Solutions and Cultivadores de Salmones Linao Ltda. – on “import alert,” the New York Times reported.
Such FDA scrutiny poses a serious potential problem for the already hurting Chilean salmon industry, which depends heavily on the U.S. market. U.S. customers buy an estimated 38 percent of all Chile-raised salmon, purchasing approximately US$700 million worth annually.
“The salmon industry continues drawing attention from the national and international press, not for its successes or virtues but rather for its serious health and environmental problems,” Alex Muñoz Wilson, director of the environmental NGO Oceana, pointed out in a recent La Tercera opinion piece.
Those problems have already resulted in 5,000 layoffs, Muñoz explained. Some 10,000 more jobs could be lost this year. Salmon companies, meanwhile, are unable to secure loans, an “indicator of how little credibility the trade association (SalmonChile) enjoys,” he wrote.
“The new article confirms that neither the salmon industry nor the government has done enough to tackle the current environmental and health crisis,” said Muñoz. “This shows the lack of foresight by a business sector that, by ignoring health and environmental concerns, thought it could cut costs and thus be more competitive.”
SalmonChile President César Barros fired back in his own La Tercera piece. Accusing Muñoz of trying to “confuse the public,” Barros blasted Oceana and other environmental groups for failing to temper their constant criticisms with concrete proposals.
“Unfortunately, (Muñoz’) attitude isn’t any different than so many others that up to now have only been able to point fingers,” the SalmonChile head wrote. “Frankly, I think the time has come to tell all those people: ‘Enough! Let us do our job.’ If someone has something to say, they should get in the water and propose something better.”
The New York Times first reported on the Chilean salmon industry last March in a controversial article entitled “Salmon Virus Indicts Chile’s Fishing Methods.” Just days after the story went to print, U.S. food giant Safeway announced it would restrict purchases of Chilean salmon (PT, April 1, 2008).
Two months later the New York Times admitted it made a crucial reporting error while preparing the story (PT, May 13). The paper explained in a May 13 editor’s note that Adolfo Flores, a man cited in the article as a top Castro (Chiloé) port official, is in fact a security officer and should not, therefore, have been used as a source. In the article Flores described bags of fish food in a Marine Harvest facility as containing antibiotics, pigments and hormones.
By Benjamin Witte ( patagoniatimes@gmail.com This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Last Updated ( Monday, 16 February 2009 )
MORE LAYOFFS AHEAD FOR CHILE’S SALMON INDUSTRY
Written by Benjamin Witte
Friday, 30 January 2009
To avoid ISA, companies are harvesting salmon early
Photo by Benjamin Witte
Pesquera Camanchaca Announces Pending Closure Of Region VIII Factory
The new year has brought new signs of trouble for Chile’s once-booming farmed salmon industry, which after years of sustained growth now finds itself in a prolonged and costly slide that shows no signs of letting up soon.
The latest red flag came this week when salmon company Pesquera Camanchaca confirmed it will close a processing plant in Tomé, Region VIII. The closure, scheduled for March, will add approximately 1,800 layoffs to the already 7,000 jobs estimated to have been lost last year.
Camanchaca blames the move on Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA), a highly infectious and potentially deadly fish virus that first appeared in Chilean waters in mid 2007. ISA continues to spread throughout the country’s southern salmon farming regions.
In order to avoid infection, Camanchaca and other companies have been forced to harvest their fish prematurely. Camanchaca expects to complete its harvest by March. From then on, there simply won’t be any more fish, meaning the company’s Tomé processing plant will be without the raw material it needs to operate.
“Pesquera Camanchaca has been seriously affected by the ISA virus and, because of the disease, had to process its entire 2009 stock early,” said union leader Rosamel Sáez. “That’s left us without any fish to process, which is why the company decided to lay off everyone currently working in the plant. There are going to be 1,800 people without work.”
Camanchaca General Manager Francisco Cifuentes denied an interview request by the Patagonia Times but confirmed with Diario Finaciero earlier this week that “after March, we’re going to consider the Tomé plant closed.”
“So far in 2009 we’ve already processed 30,000 tons,” he said. “We’re harvested all we could before the fish got sick. We pushed the harvest ahead. During a normal year, those 30,000 tons would have stretched to June, easily.”
The closure is bad news indeed for Tomé, a coastal city of roughly 40,000 that in recent years has lost several large textile factories and, according to Mayor Eduardo Aguilar, already boasts a soaring unemployment rate of 20 percent.
“Today (Camanchaca) is the city’s principal source of jobs,” said Aguilar. “This is a dramatic situation. The closure will be terrible. We’re already experiencing a crisis due to the collapse of the textile industry.”
Tomé is by no means the only Chilean community to be hurt by the salmon industry’s dramatic downturn. Until last year, the industry enjoyed a sustained boom that, between 1991 and 2006, saw production expand by a staggering 2,200 percent. During the 15-year span thousands of jobs were created as the industry’s annual earnings rose from US$159 million to more than US$2.2 billion.
At the same time southern Chile’s economy – particularly in Regions X and to a lesser extent XI – became increasingly dependent on the surging salmon industry. Farmed salmon’s dominant influence, in other words, is now proving to be an Achilles heel for the regions, which are unable to provide alternative job opportunities for the expanding list of laid off salmon workers.
“Salmon is what moves this area,” said union head Doris Paredes of the Llanquihue chapter of the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT). “It’s the only industry that provides widespread employment, that is able to absorb the workforce. Because everything around here depends on salmon. Maybe on a national level, the layoffs taking place here aren’t that significant. But in terms of their local impact, they’re huge.”
By Benjamin Witte ( patagoniatimes@gmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Last Updated ( Friday, 30 January 2009 )
Jim's Fishing Charters
www.JimsFishing.com
http://ca.youtube.com/user/Sushihunter250
