Chile\'s National Fisheries and Aquaculture bureau, Sernapesca, said the country saw record-breaking aquaculture production in 2012.

The national director of the institute, Ana María Garay Urrutia, said that although the figures are still preliminary and are in the process of validation, the estimated total harvest will be at least about 1.055 million tons, of which about 804 000 tonnes for salmonid species, which would mean an increase in the harvest of these species with respect to that obtained in 2011, of about 23%.

This increase in salmonids is, in relative terms, lower than 2011 gains over 2010, which reached 39%, reflecting recovery post ISA.

In the case of the Atlantic salmon, the main species of salmonid cultivation and export for Chile, and the species most affected by the ISA virus, the 2012 harvest reached 398,000 tons with a 50.6% increase over the previous year, thus achieving a new record. Almost 61% of production was in the Aysen region. 

Urrutia said that the production obtained by the Chilean salmon industry in 2012, \"occurred with appropriate health indicators, reflected in the mortality figures, which, according to historical records of the past seven years, is within the expected levels,\" adding that \"there is an average mortality for all three species in very acceptable ranges, particularly in the case of Atlantic salmon, no outbreaks of Anemia Infectious Salmon (ISA), and lower loads of Caligus since implementation by Sernapesca of the new health program monitoring and control of this disease \"