Chile says algae bloom has killed many salmon

SANTIAGO, March 12 (Reuters) - Chile's government said on Thursday an algae bloom in the country's salmon-growing south has killed a large number of fish, and said it was evaluating the scale of the latest scourge to hammer the industry.

Chile's salmon industry is already grappling with the ravages of a fish virus lethal to Atlantic salmon, the ISA virus, with salmon exports seen down 30 percent in 2009 from a year earlier to around 320,000 tonnes.

Compounding matters, global financial crisis has closed access to credit producers need to fund measures to combat ISA.

"The natural phenomenon (algae bloom) has caused an important number of deaths at salmon production centers and the magnitude is being evaluated," the government's National Fishing Service, or Sernapesca, said in a statement.

The algae bloom can kill fish via asphyxia.

Chile's Multiexport Foods MUL.SN, a leading local salmon producer, reported on Wednesday it had been hit by an algae bloom, sending its shares down nearly 7 percent. Shares in the company fell another 2.5 percent on Thursday.

Sernapesca did not say how many salmon sector companies had been hit by the algae, but said it had implemented a series of measures to combat the bloom, including limiting navigationroutes for boats carrying fish as well as algae monitoring. (Writing by Simon Gardner; Editing by David Gregorio)