While disease has and continues to affect aquaculture worldwide, one of the most significant current cases is in Chile where ISA has caused a huge decrease in Atlantic salmon production in the last ten years. There has been a drastic decrease from roughly 400,000 tons in 2005 to 100,000 tons in 2010 (see Figure 3 and Figure 4), and it has been described as one of the worst outbreaks ever observed in aquaculture from any disease (Asche 406).
Figure 3 – Decrease in Salmon Production in Chile
Figure 4 – Worldwide Salmon Production
What is perplexing about the outbreak of ISA in Chile is that ISA has been successfully dealt with in almost all other countries that have salmon aquaculture, with the exception to this being the Faroe Islands, where production of Atlantic salmon decreased by 80% due to ISA (Asche 407).
Most of the Chilean salmon farms, and farms across the world, are owned by large international companies. These companies have been able to successfully combat the disease at other locations, such as in Norway, and it is interesting that the outbreak has been exceptionally devastating in Chile and the Faroe Islands. Thus, even with experience of the disease and ways of treating it, the disease continues to affect salmon aquaculture worldwide.
Disease in Salmon Aquaculture: Infectious Salmon Anemia Virus
J. Cody Herron is a junior Physics major and Genomics minor at Davidson College.