Chile may have achieved higher salmon export volume despite ongoing problems with the deadly Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA), but earnings are stagnant, according to SalmonChile, the industry's private producers' association.

In the first seven months of 2008, Chile exported about 279,291 tonnes of farmed salmon and trout, up 16 percent on-year. The US and Japan accounted for about 64 percent of the shipments.

Export earnings reached US$1.4 billion from January to July, roughly equivalent to earnings in the same period last year. In comparison with the earlier decade, the industry used to grow at an average rate of 20 percent per year.

SalmonChile attributed the stagnant earnings to rising fuel costs and weak US dollar, but most observers said the real problem is ISA, which was first detected in mid 2007 and has since spread to dozens of farms throughout Regions X and XI.

Chile's National Fishing Service currently lists 17 ISA outbreak sites - three in Region XI and the rest in Region X. The agency cites 24 farms as "suspicious" and keeps another 78 sites under quarantine. The agency also lists 46 sites as "temporarily decommissioned", a relatively new category used to describe former infected farms that have eliminated all fish, thoroughly disinfected all facilities and agreed to stop operations for three months.