A "red tide" outbreak is widening in southern Chile's fishing-rich waters, the government says, deepening what is already believed to be one of the country's worst environmental crises in recent years.
The red tide - an algal bloom that turns the sea water red and makes seafood toxic - is a common, naturally recurring phenomenon in southern Chile, but the extent of the current outbreak is unprecedented.
The southern region of Los Lagos has been affected in recent weeks by the largest red tide in its history, prompting fishermen deprived of their livelihoods to angrily demand more support from the government.
Now there are signs that Los Rios, the neighbouring region to the north, has also been affected, local officials warn.
"The red tide zone is going to grow, it is a changing phenomenon," Raul Sunico, the deputy minister for fishing and aquaculture, told local radio station Cooperativa on Wednesday.
"Highly toxic samples have been taken in the region of Los Rios, which obliges us ... to close areas of the region to resource extraction."
The red tide has caused tonnes of dead shellfish to wash up on southern beaches and paralysed the fishing industry, which is the mainstay of many coastal settlements and accounts for about 0.5 per cent of the country's gross domestic product.
Scientists say this year's El Nio weather pattern is likely a key factor in the red tide, as it warms the ocean and creates bloom-friendly conditions.
Some fishermen are blaming the local salmon industry, the world's second largest, for exacerbating the problem, citing the dumping of dead fish in March by salmon farmers after a bloom killed off much of their stock.
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