Sunken salmon cages found 1,000 feet deep
Salmon cages sunk in a storm in Chile have been located on the seabed almost 1,000 feet below the surface.
Blumar said between 12 and 14 cages from the 18-cage farm were identified at a depth of 295 metres as a result of inspection work with remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), anchor ships and sonar equipment.
After the collapse of the cages at the Caicura farming centre in the Hualaihué commune and the consequent escape of fish, Blumar has reported that it continues “making all its efforts, human and technical, to confront this accident with the greatest possible diligence and thus offer serious solutions, responsible for the environment and the communities, and endorsed by professionals from different fields”.
25,000 fish recaptured
The company has more than 50 people deployed in the area supported by two anchor boats; four sonar devices; two high-tech ROV underwater robots; and experts from four companies with extensive experience in seabed prospecting.
It is hoping to soon have a geo-referenced map of all the cages located to date which will be shared with authorities.
By Tuesday last week, artisanal fishermen had recaptured 25,505 Atlantic salmon that had escaped during the collapse of the farm.
Once the company has the georeferenced plan and all the images of the sunken cages, “we will be able to begin the work to technically quantify the amount of salmon that would have escaped, a figure that, as we have mentioned, we estimate is less than the 875,000 salmon that were in the farming centre sunk during the storm”, said Blumar.
