A native of San Francisco, Christian Molinari has lived and worked in Chile for over 20 years, after having arrived in Santiago as a volunteer and falling in love with the culture and its people. He covered business news in Latin America for over a decade, worked in communications at IBM Chile, and currently freelances in strategic communications and reporting.
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The number of salmonids Chile sent abroad in the first half of 2025 fell 1.5 percent year over year to 361,000 metric tons (MT).
Over the same period, the value of those exports rose 3 percent to USD 3.09 billion (EUR 2.63 billion), Chile’s Salmon Council recently reported, citing the latest information from the country’s National Customs Service.
According to the council, the numbers clearly show that the industry has been hampered
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Oslo, Norway-based salmon-farming firm Cermaq is rapidly advancing on the second stage of construction at its Chacao Canal Fish Farm (PCC II) in Chile, which the company claims will be the largest and most modern farm in the South American country and one of Cermaq’s most important worldwide.
Cermaq originally announced construction on PCC II in April last year. The facility is projected to cost around USD 100 million (EUR 86 million) in
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Chile’s Superintendence of the Environment (SMA) has initiated an investigation into salmon-farming firm Australis regarding a fuel spill that took place on 4 July at the firm’s Pan de Azúcar salmon grow-out center located in the nation’s Kawésqar National Reserve.
Australis used the SMA’s Environmental Monitoring System to sound the alarm about the incident after company personnel identified fuel leaking
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A Chilean environmental NGO is taking aim at alleged salmon overproduction at AquaChile farming sites in an investigation it said will unveil "a new type of environmental non-compliance" by Chilean salmon farms.
Through a series of documents published on its website and in local publication Ciper the NGO, Fundación Terram, accused AquaChile of exceeding its limits of salmon production by more than 73,000 metric tons (MT) during
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The Chilean National Economic Prosecutor's Office (FNE) has called for sanctions on BioMar, Skretting, and Salmofood for alleged price collusion between 2003 and 2015.
The case was originally presented in December 2019, when the FNE told the Court for the Defense of Free Competition (TDLC) that BioMar Chile, Comercializadora Nutreco Chile Limitada (Skretting), EWOS Chile Alimentos Limitada, and Vitapro Chile (Salmofood) actively worked together
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Implementing modern recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facilities may offer Chilean aquaculture companies a competitive advantage, according to aquatic technology company Innovasea.
“The global perception of animal protein production is changing. Customers are better informed and make decisions based not only on price and look but also considering origin, environmental impact, and certifications,” Innovasea Systems Designer
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A criminal court in Punta Arenas, Chile, has sentenced former executives from salmon-farming firm Nova Austral for environmental crimes.
In June, the court found defendants Drago Covacich, a former regional manager at Nova Austral, and Nicos Nicolaides, a former CEO of the firm, guilty of the repeated crime of water pollution between December 2016 and June 2019. The court also said that defendants Isaac Olivet-Besson and Rigoberto Garrido,
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An environmental court in Chile has annulled an environmental permit for salmon-farming firm Australis to operate its Obstrucción grow-out center in the Magallanes region, finding the permit’s evaluation process had deficiencies.
Through the permit, the firm sought to increase the center’s biomass production from 5,140 metric tons (MT) per cycle to 7,500 MT, thereby increasing aquaculture activity in waters near the
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The Chilean Salmon Council, a trade association formed in 2020 aimed at representing the interests of the country’s salmon-farming industry, is looking to leverage Chile’s agricultural strength to enhance ties with local aquaculture firms.
“Sixty percent of the feed that feeds our salmon comes from grains such as wheat, soybeans, canola, or rapeseed,” Salmon Council Executive Director Loreto Seguel said in a release.
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