Salmon-farming stakeholders in Chile – including companies, associations, government authorities, industry workers, and academia – have come together to begin working on a 50-year plan to help drive sector development.
Interested parties met in the southern city of Puerto Montt at the beginning of March for a signing ceremony that confirmed their commitments to developing the 50-year salmon plan. The proposed plan has a three-pronged focus: territorial planning, sustainability, and human capital – and the next step is to form working groups on each focus area, Chilean Salmon Council Corporate Director Rodrigo Pinto told SeafoodSource.
“Chilean salmon is the second-most exported product by our country, at about 1 million metric tons per year, with returns of USD 6.5 billion [EUR 6 billion] per year, generating more than 70,000 jobs and representing an average GDP of 18 percent in the [southern salmon-farming] regions of Los Lagos, Aysén and Magallanes,” he said. “However, public policy for growth and development is clearly lacking. That must be corrected, soon, and with the participation of everyone.”
The three focus areas for the plan intend to address industry issues and build the basis of a public policy for growth and development, according to Pinto.
“Based on qualitative and quantitative agreements, we will be able to create a state policy that promotes sustainable productive growth in the environmental, social, and economic spheres, in a certain period of time. We have a significant job ahead of us,” he said.
Stakeholders within Chile’s salmon-farming industry have been calling for the nation’s government to more clearly define its stance on the future of the aquaculture sector, seeking a countrywide vision.
“What does the country want – salmon farming to be an economic pillar, like it is in Norway, or have it disappear as some NGOs want?” Blumar CEO Gerardo Balbontin asked towards the end of 2024 during the “Conversations for economic development” series of discussions hosted by business consultancy firm Deloitte...
