Christian Molinari

Puerto Montt, Chile-based salmon-farming firm Ventisqueros has gotten the green light from environmental authorities to advance a proposed USD 68 million (EUR 58.6 million) aquaculture project. According to documents submitted to Chile’s Environmental Impact Assessment System (SEIA), the project modifies, modernizes, and improves an existing aquaculture project located in Ralún in the Los Lagos region, moving the project 700 meters south and… Read More

Aquaculture companies in Chile and Ecuador have signaled that the newly published 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans represent a significant opportunity to increase shipments to what is already one of their largest markets. Released on 7 January by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the new Dietary Guidelines encourage Americans to “eat real food” – such as high-quality protein, healthy fats, fruits,… Read More

Chilean salmon-farming firm Salmones Blumar has submitted two expansion projects to Chile’s Environmental Assessment Service for approval that aim to increase salmon production at grow-out centers located on Riesco Island in the nation’s southern Magallanes region. Both projects – costing USD 1.8 million (EUR 1.5 million) each – aim to optimize existing infrastructure without expanding the operations’ concession areas or incorporating… Read More

Chile's salmon industry registered exports of USD 6.55 billion (EUR 5.63 billion) in 2025 – a 3 percent increase from 2024, according to SalmonChile's Quarterly Export Bulletin, which referenced information from the country’s Central Bank. The bulletin stated that the sector accounted for 6 percent of Chile’s total exports and salmonids were the country’s second-most exported product behind copper. Additionally, it found that four… Read More

The court of appeals in Chile’s southernmost city of Punta Arenas has ruled to fully acquit Nicos Nicolaides, the former CEO of salmon-farming firm Nova Austral, of all charges levied against him for supposed crimes committed when he worked at the firm. The move reversed a criminal conviction issued in July 2025 in which Nicolaides and other former Nova Austral executives were sentenced to prison and ordered to pay fines for alleged… Read More

Chile’s Supreme Court has ratified a sanction against Mowi Chile for the 2018 escape of more than 600,000 salmon from the company’s Punta Redonda farming center in the southern Los Lagos region. The fine – equivalent to CLP 7.44 billion (USD 8.2 million, EUR 7 million) – was originally levied against Mowi by Chile’s environmental authority body, the SMA, in 2020 for what the authority deemed as “irreparable environmental damage,”… Read More

Chilean salmon and trout farmer Salmones Antártica has submitted a proposal to Chile’s Environmental Impact Assessment System (SEIA) for a USD 6 million (EUR 5.1 million) expansion of its salmon processing plant located in Chonchi, on the island of Chiloé in the south of the country. The company’s plan is to increase production to 51,400 metric tons (MT) per year of finished product from the current 30,000 MT a year, for which Salmones… Read More

Lawmakers in Argentina’s southernmost province of Tierra del Fuego have voted by a narrow majority to authorize salmon production off the province’s Atlantic coast. Provincial legislators voted 8 to 7 recently to amend an existing law (Law 1,355) that the local government in Tierra del Fuego unanimously approved in 2021 to prohibit salmon farming. At the time of the law’s passing, it was widely celebrated by environmentalists and other… Read More

Chile’s Superintendence of the Environment (SMA) has signed a collaboration agreement with Stanford University’s Regulation, Evaluation, and Governance Lab (RegLab) to strengthen preventive monitoring, oversight, and evaluation of environmental public policies through data-based solutions. The three-year, renewable collaboration agreement will focus on two areas: forming an aquaculture strategy and supporting management of grievances, the… Read More

The Ecuadorian Ministry of the Interior has announced new controls on sodium metabisulfite to prevent its use in illicit activities. When legitimately used, such as in shrimp-farming operations, sodium metabisulfite serves as a versatile preservative, antioxidant, and reducing agent to prevent food decomposition; however, it can also serve as a raw material for refining cocaine. The new controls from the Ecuadorian government would require… Read More