April 12, 2022 — Chile’s constitutional court (TC) has ruled that the presumption of environmental damage from farmed fish escapes is unconstitutional, setting a precedent for the country’s aquaculture sector.

In August 2020, Chile’s Superintendency of the Environment (SMA) levied a CLP 5.3 billion (USD 6.7 million, EUR 5.7 million) fine against Mowi for an incident involving a large-scale escape of over 690,000 fish from its Punta Redonda faming center on Guar Island in the south of the country in July 2018. In December of the same year, Chile’s Council for the Defense of the State (CDE) followed that up with a lawsuit filed with the third environmental court against Mowi Chile, seeking action by the salmon farmer to rectify the large-scale escape. At the time, CDE said that the event had caused “irreparable environmental damage,” as the farmer had failed to maintain “the appropriate security conditions and cultivation elements of optimal quality and resistance.”

Read the full story at SeafoodSource