To Metri

Wednesday was a busy day with an early morning trip with Prof Caravajal to the marine outstation of the Universidad Los Lagos in Metri, just south of Pt Montt. The Prof had many stories about the potential pro’s and con’s of the ex-Pinochet dictatorship of the country and how it had shaped the landscape and communities of this and other regions. Moving south, the abundance of mussel farms (Mytilus chilensis) became apparent and upon reaching the very peaceful laboratory in Metri we were greeted with bright sunshine (quite rare it appears in Pt Montt during this time of year).

The marine outstation at Metri is doing some great work on the experimental culture of mostly local (and some exotic) species, including Chilean sea bass (Corvina), Trabulco (very similar to our whelk), Congrio (a squatter version of Conger eel), Chaiba (various crab species), abalone and giant barnacles (´Picoroco´).

Driving back to Pt Montt we were able to watch the frequent groups of dolphins that seemed to patrol the areas occupied by the mussel farms and the gradual darkening of the sky that precedes the afternoon rain at this time of year.

Lunch with Patricio Bustos, the managing director of ADL Diagnostics, one of several diagnostic services laboratories in the region gave a useful insight into the salmon farming activities of the Pt Montt and Chiloe Island region and also highlighted the legislative differences between the UK and Chile in terms of disease diagnosis – Chile having a network of private laboratories who report findings of list diseases to the government (who appear to have no similar facility to Cefas at present). Walking into the laboratory at ADL, I was greeted with a familiar face from my days in Nottingham Uni….Matt Pierce who studied the same degree in Nottingham at the same time had moved to the country with his Chilean wife recently and was now working for Patricio at ADL….small world!!

A rapid drive back to the Hotel Gran Pacifica in Pt Montt was followed by an evening talk to a large number of vets and aquaculture professionals on the work of Cefas, the UK monitoring program and BEQUALM. I very much appreciate the rapid organisation of this event (within 1 day!) via the various online avenues used by the Chile aquaculture industry by Dr Marcus Godoy and Dr Oscar Parra (both Intervet). Marcus thanked me for the talk with some local beer and tapas at a bar in Pt. Montt.

Giant barnacles (´Picoroco´) - ready to eat!!