Image: Sernapesca / FIS

Sernapesca Publishes 2023 Report on Antimicrobial and Antiparasitic Use in Salmon Farming

CHILE
Thursday, June 06, 2024, 01:00 (GMT + 9)

The Report on the Use of Antimicrobials and Antiparasitics in National Salmon Farming, published by the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (Sernapesca), is now available, which contains the information corresponding to the year 2023.

“This is the first report that contains the consumption of antiparasitics in a closed cycle, detailed both by company and by group of salmon farming concessions (ACS), which allows us to advance in the implementation of Law 21,532, being a milestone for transparency active in our country because it sets new standards in aquaculture, which is essential for a better society where we can encourage the active involvement of citizens,” commented the National Director of Sernapesca, Soledad Tapia Almonacid.

The report highlights a new reduction in the consumption of antimicrobials in relation to annual use in fresh water and sea, and in a closed cycle during the year 2023, this last analysis corresponding only to the seawater phase, thus confirming the general trend to its reduction in the last six years.

In the seawater phase, the main pathology that affects salmon farming and that explains the greater use of antimicrobials, continues to be piscirickettsiosis (SRS) with 93.21%, followed by renibacteriosis (BKD) and tenacibaculosis with 4. 62% and 1.46% respectively.

Additionally, the report mentions that 54.57% of the antimicrobials used were administered in the Aysén region, while 45% were administered in the Los Lagos region. Meanwhile, in the Magallanes region 0.44% has been administered, which marks a significant decrease compared to 2022.

Source: Sernapesca

On the other hand, in the freshwater phase, the main diseases that justify the use correspond to renibacteriosis (BKD) with 42.13%, flavobacteriosis with 30.92% and atypical furunculosis with 26.59%. This use is distributed mainly in Los Lagos (44.62%) and Araucanía (38.9%), which correspond to the regions where the greatest production is concentrated at this stage.

Regarding the consumption of closed-cycle antimicrobials, which corresponds to salmon fattening cycles that ended their operation during 2023, the report indicates that during the last year the Antimicrobial Consumption Index (AQI) was 228.37 g/t , which means 44.01% less than the previous year.

Source: Sernapesca

In the case of closed cycle antiparasitics, these are divided into two categories that correspond to hydrogen peroxide and other antiparasitics used (azamethiphos, emamectin benzoate, cypermethrin, deltamethrin and hexaflumuron), which have values ​​of 5,150 g/t and 4 .85 g/t, respectively.

Finally, it is important to note that by 2023 only antimicrobials for exclusive use in veterinary medicine have been used and there is no recorded use of antimicrobials of critical importance for human health.

PROA-Salmon Certification

Source: Sernapesca

The Program for the Optimization of the Use of Antimicrobials (PROA-Salmón) is a certification that Sernapesca delivers to fattening centers at sea per production cycle of those companies that request it and manage to reduce the use of antimicrobials within established limits. in the program or dispense with its use throughout the production cycle.

In this sense, the National Director of Sernapesca, Soledad Tapia, highlighted that “Under our PROA-Salmón program we have also been able to see a progressive increase in the volume of annual harvested tons certified as PROA for the three productive species, from 12 thousand tons in 2020 to 213 thousand tons in 2023, which gives us great satisfaction in being able to have a tool that positively encourages good practices in the application of treatments, promoting optimization in the use of antimicrobials.”

Source: Sernapesca (Translated from the original in Spanish)

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