Los Fiordos Salmon Plant Dismisses Claim; Enviros Allege Government Complicity
 
With Chile's salmon industry still recovering from a virus that decimated its fish farms since 2007, it appears that collateral damage may have extended to land-bound livestock. At least that is what a Region X Mapuche community with dead sheep on their hands is claiming.

 

Opponents to the US$3.2 billion HidroAysén dam project planned for Chile’s southern Patagonia area are convoking protests this weekend in Coyhaique, Aysén, Concepción, Valdivia, Pucón and Santiago.
 
HidroAysén this week submitted its official response to the more than three thousand questions raised by its original Environmental Assessment Statement. The company’s proposed construction of five hydroelectric dams on two of Patagonia’s pristine rivers was panned and rejected by many local, national and international organizations.

 

Trade association SalmonChile is predicting that next year will be Chile’s worst salmon production year in the industry’s history. Estimates show that approximately 300,000 to 350,000 tons of salmon will be produced in 2010, or roughly half the quantity produced in 2008 and 1,000 tons less than in 2009.
 
 
Region X salmon farmers will likely face a major production drop f

or the year 2010, according to the SalmonChile trade association.
Photo by Kendal Montgomery, The Santiago Times

 

HidroAysén, a US$3.2 billion hydroelectric dam project slated for far southern Chile’s pristine Patagonia region, resumed environmental proceedings this week by submitting its official response environmental concerns raised by the Region XI project.
 
Now public service authorities have until Nov. 10 to review the company’s report and submit their next round of questions to HidroAysén. HidroAysén was created in 2006 by Chilean utility Colbún and Italian-owned electricity giant Endesa.

 

Previous Studies Found Forestry Giant CELCO Responsible For Swan Deaths
 
District Attorney Alejandro Ríos announced that on Nov. 6 he will move to dismiss the investigation into the deaths of thousands of Region XIV’s iconic black neck swans that inhabited the Carlos Anwandter Nature Sanctuary in southern Chile.