Most Stringent FIsh Farm Laws in the World, Dec 29, 2013

One of the claims that fish farms like to make is that the country they operate in has the most stringent environmental laws in the world regarding aquaculture. It is typical for these claims to be made in many different countries at the same time, hence, the claim is not true as the laws of every country are different.

For example, the claim has been made in Chile, Scotland, Norway and Canada at the same time in the past year. If you follow fish farm news, Chile is acknowledged as one of the most unsanitary fish farm areas in the world and as recently noted in December 2013 posts on this site, the annual escapes are typically 1 million fish, with a max of 4.4 million fish per year. This includes pristine water in Patagonia. Very sad.

And Chile still has not been able to go free of the ISA that caused a $2 Billion loss in 2008, even though their method of dealing with the problem goes to lengths to downplay that the disease is present in one farm or another, or many. If you follow thefishsite.com or fis.com you will find such articles regularly. Here is one for Dec 2013: http://www.fis.com/fis/worldnews/worldnews.asp?l=e&country=0&special=&monthyear=&day=&id=65136&ndb=1&df=0.

Read the article: CHILE 

Wednesday, December 04, 2013, 23:00 (GMT + 9)

The National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (Sernapesca) preemptively restricted the activity on a salmon centre of Macrozone 6, where positivity to the infectious salmon anemia (ISA) virus was detected.

Under the risk-based monitoring sanitary survey periodically performed by the authority, ISA presence was found in a cage belonging to the centre Arbolito, located in the ACS 18B, in the north of the Aysen region, near Melinka.

This centre belongs to the firm Southern Cross Seafood.

Given what is indicated in the ISA Monitoring and Control Programme, the centre was classified as being "undeterminably confirmed," pending sequencing. These data will be released within the next 72 hours.

Meanwhile, Sernapesca is conducting surveillance inspections in the affected centre and in the area.

After the 2007 crisis caused by ISA spread in several farms in the country, Sernapesca developed a contingency protocol in four main stages: early detection, outbreak containment, bio-safe harvesting and effective communication to all stakeholders, who are both internal and external to the industry.

From the industry they explain that the ISA virus can not be eradicated, "but it can be handled." And they make it clear that this case is not dangerous, as the farming centre is small: it only has about 180,000 fish, while an average centre currently has about 900,000 fish, Diario Financiero reported.

Related article:

- ISA and sea lice prevalence in salmon on the rise.

Here is a claim I found for Dec 23, 2013 for the USA, saying it has one of the most stringent laws - commonly the claim is 'the best in the world' etc.: http://www.thefishsite.com/articles/1789/10-myths-about-marine-aquaculture. 

Not all aquaculture is created equal, but aquaculture in the United States operates within one of the most comprehensive regulatory environments in the world. Projects that are sited in US waters must meet a suite of federal, state, and local regulations that ensure environmental protection, water quality, food safety, and protection of public health.

This is fish farm communication's spin.