The Marine Farm site in the Aysén region of Chile, where salmon were killed by toxic algae. Photo: Sernapesca.

Toxic algal bloom kills 10,000 salmon in Chile

Ten thousand Atlantic salmon with an average weight on 4.3 kilos have been killed by an algal bloom in Chile.

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Salmon farmer Marine Farm notified state aquaculture agency Sernapesca about the die-off on Sunday.

It said the fish were killed by the toxic microalgae, Cochlodinium sp., which is the same species of algae that killed 861,000 coho salmon at a farm run by another Chilean producer, Invermar, earlier this month.

Invermar’s mass mortality event occurred at its Tepun site near the salmon processing city of Quellón on the island of Chiloé in Los Lagos region. The fish had an average weight of 780 grams.

Reinforced surveillance

The latest mortality event took place at Marine Farm’s Mellimoyu site in the Aysén region.

To date, no other fish farm sites with abnormal mortality due to algae or other causes have been detected in the area, said Sernapesca.

“The Service has reinforced its strategy of surveillance and monitoring of reports of deaths by companies,” said the agency. 

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