Chile, South America
Resources
Chile's Antibiotics Use on Salmon Farms Dwarfs That of a Top Rival's
By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO | The New York Times
Chile used almost 350 times more antibiotics in its farmed salmon in 2008 than Norway, its chief competitor and the largest salmon producer in the world, according to official data from both countries.
Chile's Economy Ministry revealed this month that Chile used almost 718,000 pounds of antibiotics in 2008 and more than 850,000 pounds in 2007. Based on information published by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, that was about 346 times the amount of antibiotics Norway used in 2008 (2,075 pounds), and almost 600 times the amount Norway used in 2007.
Chile's economy minister, Hugo Lavados, detailed Chile’s use of antibiotics in salmon production in response to a request for information by the environmental group Oceana under the country's new information access law. It was the first time the government had released such figures publicly, environmental groups said. "The ministry's numbers confirm that the Chilean salmon industry has abused the use of antibiotics," said Alex Munoz, Oceana's vice president for South America. "They also show that the Chilean government has placed a higher priority on ensuring the profitability of a business sector than protecting consumers and the nation's ecosystems."
Chile, the world's second biggest salmon exporter, has been struggling since 2007 to contain the spread of a virus that is killing millions of its fish. The industry has said it needs the antibiotics to combat other fish-borne illnesses like rickettsia, parasitic bacteria carried by sea lice, which causes infection-prone lesions. Environmentalists have blamed unsanitary conditions, including cramped pens, for giving rise to the illnesses. >>> Go to Full Story >>>
What Is Killing Chile's Coastal Wildlife?
By Gideon Long / Santiago for Time Magazine
First, in late March the bodies of about 1,200 penguins were found on a remote beach in southern Chile. Next came the sardines — millions of them — washed up dead on a nearby stretch of coastline in April, causing a stench so noxious that nearby schools were closed and the army was called in to shovel piles of rotting fish off the sand. Then it was the turn of the rare Andean flamingos. Over the course of approximately three months, thousands of them abandoned their nests on a salt lake in the Atacama Desert in the far north of Chile. Their eggs failed to hatch, and all 2,000 chicks died in their shells. Finally, in late May came the pelicans — nearly 60 of them, found dead on the central Chilean coast.
No one knows exactly what has caused these four apparently unrelated environmental disasters in as many months. Global warming has been blamed, as has overfishing, pollution and disease. In northern Chile, ecologists have accused mining companies of fatally altering the flamingos' habitat by draining the area's subterranean water. There was speculation that the penguins might have starved to death as a result of the depletion of fish stocks, although a preliminary report by a local university now suggests they were killed by a bacterial infection.
Whatever the explanations, the events have caused unease among Chileans — a sense of guilt over not doing enough to protect their country's spectacularly rich wildlife. >>>>Go to Full Story >>>
Government Website: www.gobiernodechile.cl