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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Chilean salmonid exports reached USD 6.6 billion (EUR 6.2 billion) in 2022, a 27.4 percent year-over-year jump that cemented the industry's status as the country's second-largest export sector after mining.
However, the financial gains have been paired with greater environmental scrutiny of the industry's ecological side effects of salmon farming, resulting in Chile President Gabriel Boric opposing any expansion of salmon production.
In
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Puerto Montt, Chile-based salmon producer Multi X said it achieved a “historical” harvest in Q3 2023, resulting in a successful quarter despite high operational costs and lower year-over-year sales prices.
The company’s Q3 2023 harvest volume of Atlantic salmon reached 31,473 metric tons (MT) whole-fish equivalent (WFE), which aligned with its growth plan. The figure represented a 33.8 percent jump when compared to the 23,530
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The Chilean and Chinese governments signed an agreement in mid-October that will result in an increase exports of Chilean aquaculture products, including fresh coho salmon, to China.
The Chilean National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (Sernapesca) celebrated the agreement, while publicly, Chile's largest coho farmers have been more reserved in their approach.
“I want to highlight the protocol where the Chinese Customs Authority will
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The El Niño weather pattern that has affected the fishing sectors of Peru and other Latin American countries this year may be sticking around longer than anticipated, a potential outcome that is alarming the region’s fishers and aquaculture farmers.
According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the ongoing El Niño event – a climate pattern that causes ocean surface warming in the central and eastern Pacific
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Several salmon-farming centers in southern Chile have activated contingency plans responding to harmful algae blooms, the Chilean National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (Sernapesca) reported recently.
The 18 farming centers under contingency plans are located in the Reloncaví Estuary and have a combined biomass in the water of 79,727 metric tons (MT). To date, two salmon-farming companies operating in the area – Trusal and
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Puerto Montt, Chile-based salmon farmer Salmones Camanchaca increased its Atlantic salmon harvest to 17,760 metric tons (MT) in Q3 2023, a 24 percent year-over-year increase, but the jump in production was not enough to keep the company from falling into the red for the second straight quarter.
“This was a very challenging quarter due to the weakness of global demand and its effects on prices, added to costs that included higher prices of
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Punta Arenas, Chile-based salmon farmer Nova Austral has successfully appealed a sanction levied by the Chilean Superintendency of the Environment (SMA) that aimed to revoke the company’s environmental license for its Cockburn 14 grow-out center.
The July 2022 sanction, which the SMA hailed at the time as a “historic decision” against “a recalcitrant offender,” targeted three of Nova Austral’s farming centers
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Amid a strained atmosphere in Chile that has pitted environmentalists against salmon farmers, Chilean trade body SalmonChile recently released a sustainability report highlighting the economic boost its business has given the country, while also stressing its efforts at lightening its environmental footprint.
SalmonChile has published the sustainability report annually for eight years, which, according to SalmonChile President Arturo Clement, is
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Creditors of the troubled salmon-farming firm Nova Austral have decided to push back a vote on a proposed restructuring until 9 November, after the beleaguered Punta Arenas, Chile-based company – reportedly USD 560 million (EUR 530 million) in debt – proposed three different reorganization options.
Nova Austral has been under intense public scrutiny from Chile’s National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (Sernapesca), which
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Peru’s Ministry of Production (PRODUCE) authorized a 26 October launch of the second anchovy fishery season in the country’s north-central zone, establishing a total allowable catch (TAC) of 1.68 million metric tons (MT) and giving hopes to Peruvian fishermen and the seafood industry as a whole that had to adjust to the first season’s cancelation earlier this year.
The newly established TAC aligns with recommendations from the
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