Christian Molinari

Ecuador’s shrimp industry has signed an agreement with Conservation International Ecuador (CI-Ecuador) to promote the conservation and restoration of mangroves, including through technical studies, community-based initiatives, and the monitoring of mangrove initiatives throughout the country. Under the agreement – signed between CI-Ecuador, Ecuador’s National Aquaculture Chamber (CNA), and the Sustainable Shrimp Partnership (SSP) – the… Read More

A number of vessels belonging to China’s distant-water fishing fleet, some of which have been linked to illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing activity, have been serviced by the Chilean Navy, raising questions about potential conflicts of interest. Milko Schvartzman, the ocean policy coordinator at environmental NGO Circulo de Politicas Ambientales, has written a new report titled “Chile and the Chinese Distant-Water Squid… Read More

The Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) certification of Peru’s snake eel (Ophichthus remiger) fishery – finalized earlier this year – will grant access to new international markets and drive significant growth, according to Peruvian Association of Eel Producers (APPA) President Darío Alvitez. The value of Peruvian eel exports are expected to exceed USD 6 million (EUR 5.3 million) this year and around USD 20 million (EUR 17.5 million)… Read More

Ecuador’s National Aquaculture Chamber (CNA) and the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MAE) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to bolster the supply of electricity to the nation’s shrimp sector. Currently, less than 10 percent of the nation’s shrimp sector operates with electricity, with the remaining 90 percent still depending mainly on diesel for the operation of pumping and aeration systems. Under the MoU, the industry… Read More

Chile’s Salmon Council has released a study outlining a limited set of regulatory and operational adjustments that the country's aquaculture sector and government could implement to generate production increases of between 4 percent and 8 percent. The study aimed to estimate the economic effects of such growth on exports, employment, and regional gross domestic product (GDP), including both direct impacts and knock-on effects on associated… Read More

Amid rapid export growth, Ecuador is turning its focus toward increasingly adding value to the shrimp products it sends abroad, according to Global Shrimp Council Co-Founder and Gluna Shrimp CEO Gabriel Luna. Ecuador’s National Aquaculture Chamber (CNA) recently announced the country exported 165,538 metric tons (MT) of shrimp in May, marking an increase of 9 percent year over year and representing the highest export total for a single month… Read More

Chilean business representatives, including delegates from the nation’s salmon-farming sector, are preparing to travel to the U.S. to make the case that Chilean products should not be tariffed at the 12.5 percent rate recently set by the United States Trade Representative (USTR). Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court found President Donald Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to justify his tariff… Read More

A Santiago, Chile-based appeals court has annulled a previous ruling from a Chilean arbitration tribunal that ordered Isidoro Quiroga, the previous owner of salmon-farming company Australis, and members of his family to pay USD 292 million (EUR 256 million) to Chinese seafood firm Joyvio, which currently owns the firm. Last year, after more than two years of trial, the Santiago Chamber of Commerce ruled that Quiroga had overpriced Australis when… Read More

The Chilean branch of aquaculture technology company AKVA group is working to bring its deep-farming technology to Chile to help salmon farmers in the country address sea lice issues. AKVA’s deep-farming methodology moves fish about 30 meters below the surface – beyond the depth at which caligus, a genus of parasitic sea lice that dwells mostly near the ocean surface, thrive. The cage on the surface has 30-meter cables that connect down to a… Read More

Chinese corporations now control 63.1 percent of Argentina’s squid fleet, while actual Argentine capital accounts for just 17.9 percent of ownership, according to Milko Schvartzman, the ocean policy coordinator at Argentina-based environmental NGO Circulo de Politicas Ambientales. Schvartzman’s recently released report, titled “China and the Control of Fishing Within Argentina’s EEZ,” investigates the transfer of power within… Read More