After 13 days of arduous work in Reloncaví Sound following the sinking of our “Caicura” farming center due to a severe storm, we share with you our seventh public statement since the accident occurred.  
 
What happened on the day of the sinking? 
 

• On Friday, June 26th, there was an unusual and aggressive storm with persistent easterly wind or “Puelche”, heavy rainfall, intense waves and strong marine currents from the Estuary outlet that affected our “Caicura” center, on the coast of Hualaihué.
• The team that was at the center during the storm took all preventive measures and, in the early morning of Saturday the 27th, both they and Blumar’s operations area warned that an emergency was approaching and activated the protocols.  
• Together with alerting nearby vessels and requesting help, a successful personnel evacuation process was initiated upon confirming that the center’s cages were beginning to sink. We immediately informed the authorities and activated the escape protocol to address this situation.  
• Thanks to the correct implementation of our protocols, there were no human losses to lament. 

 
Immediate notice to the authority and communities 
 

• Notice of the escape to the supervisory bodies was made in compliance with all regulations, in a proactive and timely manner. This allowed us to begin direct work with maritime authorities, the National Fisheries Service (Sernapesca) and the Environmental Superintendence (SMA), coordination that we maintain.  
• We implemented a plan to comply with the requirements imposed on us by the SMA (aerial surveys of the area, underwater monitoring, etc.) and quickly convened artisanal fishermen, with whom we set a recapture price of $10,000 per salmon.  
• Today we work with 502 fishermen, whose cooperation has been very important to recover 23,612 salmon to date.  

 
Broad field deployment 

• Once this unfortunate accident occurred due to the poor weather conditions in the area, we deployed a team of 50 company personnel dedicated exclusively to work related to this sinking.  
•  We also organized complex logistics to daily remove catches along the entire coast, as well as a system to pay artisanal fishermen twice a week. All escaped salmon catches are transported to the La Portada plant, where they are counted by the authority.  
• At the same time, our technical personnel began exploring the seafloor with an ROV robot capable of reaching 300 meters depth. Thanks to this and human and technical effort, in 5 days we managed to visualize 12 sunken cages with fish inside, at 295 meters below the surface.  
• To determine with greater precision the number of fish that would be inside the cages, we contracted a second ROV robot, with greater exploration capacity (1,000 meters depth) and with a multibeam sounder capable of modeling the seafloor topography and capturing images that will be analyzed by an expert team.  
• There is a deployment of 10 vessels in different tasks along with the boats of the 502 artisanal fishermen; two high-tech submersible ROV robots; drones and an airplane to fly over the area, in addition to all our logistics in service of the search and recovery of the cages, as well as the capture of escaped species.  

Magnitude of the escape 
 

• At Blumar we are most interested in determining as much as possible the number of fish that would have escaped as a result of this unusual storm.  
• We understand that this is a matter of interest both for the authorities and for local communities, which is why we are working seriously to clarify this point, which has been difficult due to multiple factors, including poor weather conditions and the depth of nearly 300 meters where the cages are located.   
• Thanks to the use of submarine ROV robots we located 12 cages, a finding that allows us to estimate that the number of escaped fish is much lower than the 875 thousand that were in the module. Most of those fish sank with the cages, so the escape would be less than originally estimated.
• We contacted external specialists to advise us on different matters, as well as on the steps to follow to assess the potential feasibility of recovering the sunken structure at that depth, and the associated environmental assessment. 

 
About Caicura Center 
 

• It has been operating for four production cycles, a period in which it faced many storms, none like this last one. And it has all its maintenance up to date, which implies systematic review of cables, mooring lines, nets and cage structure, among other aspects.
• It was built based on a thorough calculation report that studied the different conditions of the area, according to the protocols of the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Navy. In other words, the manufacturer built it taking into account real information about waves (frequency and magnitude), wind and submarine currents, among others, with safety factors according to recognized international standards.
• Caicura is a center specially modeled, sized and built for the reality of its environment. It is a center with 50% additional resistance in its fish net structures and with cages specially designed to withstand currents of 2 knots and waves of 4 meters in height.  

 
As a company, we will continue with our tasks to recapture fish; search for and rescue sunken infrastructure; and report with transparency to communities, authorities, local leaders and media.