Navi Becker 7988 Update Free 2010

story of the telegraph in Europe

REPORTING salmon in EUROPA



How

fishing boom farm in Chile threatens ecological catastrophe

Separated by an ocean, a continent and more than 7,000 km, Chile seems a long way to go to find sushi for millions of Britons. By Robert Mendick



packaging gives no clue to the origins of the "salmon trout."

Nor is clear the disastrous consequences of intensive fish farming along an unspoilt coastline of Chile, where, according to activists, many farms are affected by disease and pollution.
There are, of course, no suggestion that the fish served by Waitrose and Pret a Manger, two food suppliers more environmentally friendly in Britain, from a farm that has caused concern.

Increasing fish in Chile, the industry began about a decade ago, when corporations realized that there was money to be made in the blue water of a short stretch of coast near Puerto Montt, 600 miles south of the capital, Santiago.

The explosion in global demand for salmon and trout led to a rapid expansion of open net fish farming industry, where fish are kept in pens in the sea.

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conditions have also promoted the spread of bacterial diseases, according to environmentalists. One study showed that Chilean salmon contained 5,000 times more antibiotics than Norwegian salmon - an indicator, say, how drugs are used to try to prevent the disease free fish. Within a year, ISA - which does not affect "salmon trout" imported to Britain - has taken its toll, eliminating large quantities of salmon.

industry almost overnight had brought to its knees, with thousands of redundancies, fish farms polluted stretches local vacuum. This year, export industry around 150,000 tons of salmon, a huge drop in its heyday.

"These factory farms are a recipe for ecological disaster," said Don Staniford, Pure Salmon activist, who has made a movie that was released next month on the industry of fish farming and its impact on Chile.