Wellboat sinking boat area in Chiloe. (Photo: Sernapesca)
Precautionary closure of wellboat sinking zone ordered in Chiloé
CHILE
Friday, October 20, 2017, 23:50 (GMT + 9)
The National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (SERNAPESCA) has decreed the precautionary closure of the Chiloé area where a wellboat sank.
The objective is "to prevent any impacts and effects on natural resources and the environment as well as the farming activities that develop in the area," said the regional director of the public body, Eduardo Aguilera.
The precautionary closure of the affected area, the constant monitoring of hydrobiological species and coastal areas as well as the shelter for the mortality withdrawal plan that must be carried out by the company in charge, are some of the tasks that SERNAPESCA is developing in the province of Chiloé, after the sinking of the wellboat Seikongen, in the sector of Bahía Terao, Ensenada Ahoní.
SERNAPESCA officials are deployed in three groups in the area, mainly in the sector of the vessel, at sea level and on land, with the support of personnel from the Puerto Montt office.
Aguilera said that the contingent is monitoring the area "accompanying the Chilean Navy in order to prevent any impacts and effects on natural resources and the environment, as well as the farming activities that are developed in the area."
In a flyby a spot of fuel was observed, but the important volume of oil that the ship has would be presently contained.
In relation to the work carried out with mussel and salmon farming centres present on the site, SERNAPESCA ordered the precautionary closure in the area "in order to be able to make an analysis and a determination if there is an effect or accumulation in the organisms and while there could be this or any other risk for human health, the closure will be maintained," Aguilera explained.
Regarding the withdrawal of mortalities from the vessel and the protocol of the ship refloating, the aquaculture-fishing authority indicated that at this moment it is working together with the company, which has to present a plan no later than today at 18:00 hours "to account for the way in which mortality is to be safely removed, which has to be taken to a landfill or a reducing plant to make fishmeal."
Considering also the presence of Marine Coastal Spaces Indigenous Peoples (ECMPO) in the area, Aguilera valued the conversations that have been maintained with huilliches indigenous leaders.
The Maritime Authority has already sampled water and sediment from the shipwreck sector in order to have relevant environmental information to account for the state of the sinking event.
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