Salmon farm belonging to Salmones Cupquelan. (Photo: Salmones Cupquelan)

Cupquelan centre declared as 'ISA virus suspicious'

On 20 October the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (SERNAPESCA) informed the company Salmones Cupquelan that the farming centre Ballena 4 presented positivity to the infectious salmon anemia (ISA) virus.

Therefore, the authority declared the centre as being in the suspicious category under the Official Surveillance Programme of Infectious Salmon Anemia Virus.

SERNAPESCA director in the area, Cristian Hudson, confirmed that 3 of the 16 cages in that farming centre located in the southern part of the Region of Aysén present HPR3 strain of ISA, reported RLN.

The official said that about 600,000 salmon would be affected by the virus, and these are already being harvested by Cupquelan.

Meanwhile, in a preventive way, SERNAPESCA restricted the movements and is conducting surveillance inspections on the affected centre and in the area.

The national director of the organization, José Miguel Burgos, stressed that as part of this preventive health campaign, the status of ISA will also be monitored at the farms of Agrupaciones de Concesiones de Salmonicultura (ACSs) in the surroundings of the suspicious centre.

Besides, the general manager of Cupquelan, Andrés Fuentes Belmar, ensured that "to date, in the centre there has been no observed mortality or ISA-compatible clinical signology".

"Preliminarily, it would be ISA HPR3, a variant that does not generate significant mortality," he pointed out.

"However, the company has enabled all protocols for the immediate harvest of the centre, as bio-safe and with SERNAPESCA’s supervision, which was communicated to the industry through the Salmon Industry Association of Chile (SalmonChile)", on Monday, stated Fuentes Belmer.

"In collaboration with SERNAPESCA, we will make an epidemiological study to determine the origin of the virus, allowing us to improve bioexclusion measures, according to the commitment of our directory to maintain full compliance with applicable regulations, working closely with the relevant authorities," the executive added.

Salmones Cupquelan salmon produced approximately 26,000 tonnes per year in the Aysen region.

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By Analia Murias
[email protected]
www.seafood.media

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