The Chilean Salmon Council was established in 2020, joining two other salmon associations – SalmonChile and the Magallanes Salmon Farmers Association – in representing the interests of Chile’s second-largest export industry.
The council’s members – AquaChile, Australis, Cermaq, Mowi, and Salmones Aysén – collectively represent more than half of salmon production in Chile.
SeafoodSource spoke with Salmon Council Executive Director Loreto Seguel on why it was necessary to form this particular association and how its mission and vision help to distinguish it from similar groups.
SeafoodSource: Why do you feel there was a need to establish the Salmon Council in 2020, considering there were already at least two other associations?
Seguel: There is always a challenge when there is more than one association; the differentiating value proposition always has to be clear.
The Salmon Council’s role and purpose is very clear because we are solely salmon producers. The other best-known association is SalmonChile, where the salmon ecosystem there is vertically integrated; it has different partners that are part of the production chain – from logistics, to food, to vaccines – and that vertical integration effectively generates possible conflicts of interest.
At the Council, we as producers have to be able to develop the industry, project it, and we are horizontally integrated. We represent more than 50 percent of the salmon production in Chile, and our sole focus is to produce and export salmon, which allows us to quickly meet a public policy objective. I think it also allows us to make easier decisions; we are an agile trade association with a foot in the public and political arena. The partners agree quickly, and we can advance.
We started with AquaChile, Mowi, and Salmones Aysen, and then Cermaq and Australis joined. There is a diversity of capital – Norwegian, Chilean, Japanese – as well as a diversity of production types and company size.
We have the top salmon farmer in Chile (AquaChile) and the top one in the world (Mowi), as well as a smaller company like Salmones Aysen. Even Aysen has a particularity that it only produces coho, and this is also a very important identity because I would say that coho has a strong Chilean identity; 90 percent of the world's coho is produced in Chile.
SeafoodSource: One of your member companies is Australis, which has been heavily criticized for its actions in the past. Do you feel that this tarnishes the image of the council?
Seguel: Australis is a partner of ours, whose general manager raised his hand as soon as he arrived and announced that things were being done badly and could not continue. That's what we value.
What was done in terms of overproduction is unacceptable, reprehensible, and condemnable. For us, we require strict compliance with the regulations for the entire industry and especially for the five partners we represent. It's easier not to say anything and to sweep the problem under the rug because if you speak, people ostracize you. Australis CEO Andrés Lyon took the right path, and that is why, as a council, we have supported him.
Undoubtedly, there are other repercussions. Today, Australis is a company that is complicated financially and with environmental authorities. It has a series of considerations that are also complicated for us because it generates externalities.
What we have done as an association is to always insist on basic principles: to do the job well, to comply with regulations, and to help Lyon with everything in our power for him to continue what he has done so far. But, it is a complex situation. It is a very large company, and we have seen how there are others that were on the verge of collapse. That creates drama for workers, for certain localities that heavily depend on these industries, and also for the entire system of suppliers.
Helping Australis means that we are also trying to support the entire ecosystem so that it suffers as little as possible.
Today, Chile cannot afford the luxury of allowing companies to close. We have to understand that companies are engines of growth, employment, and moving that entrepreneurial ecosystem. Bills and services need to be paid, and we have to be able to improve it and work on it.
SeafoodSource: What would you say is the Salmon Council’s purpose, and how does it differ from other groups?
Seguel: We have worked on our purpose; it’s one of the important things for a trade association.
People often say that having a vision, mission, and strategic objectives is only for companies, but I think it is so relevant for an association because if we have a clear purpose, with a well-defined value proposition, we can fulfill our mission and vision. It represents a lot of what our five producing companies really want to have and do.
It is important for us to lead issues and to promote things that are not currently there – not only to deepen what already exists but to create new things. We can't always base ourselves on the same thing; to achieve different things, you have to do different things.
SeafoodSource: Can you give examples of those different things you mean?
Seguel: The council is a small association but very rigorous technically.
In the public discussion, we have been characterized by having been able to contribute toward different topics, objectives, and techniques that have made the difference when it comes to decision-making. For example, when the Lafkenche Law was discussed the last time in the Aysén region, it was the Salmon Council that, in coordination with other productive associations, put together the technical minutes to help understand why this land assignment should be rejected. I would say that we have a seal of technical rigor; we understand that a union requires a robust public-private partnership.
Independent of the government in power, an association needs to work with the authorities to build and project the industry. That has been a hallmark of the council.
Considering how difficult this ecological government has been, moving forward has been much more difficult than perhaps it would be with a government with a different stance, but I think we understand that this industry requires a robust public-private alliance. That’s why the Salmon Council is so active, for example, and works hand in hand with export promotion agency ProChile, with Subrei – the undersecretary of international relations – with government agencies SAG, Sernapesca, and Subpesca, and with agricultural entities, even when we can have profound differences.
Before, the government did not talk about the salmon industry, but we have managed to get it to talk and recognize that it is important. I think it is fair to recognize that we are in a very critical situation as an industry, but two years ago, the government wouldn’t even recognize that; today, it verbalizes it.
In addition, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) declared that aquaculture can help to provide the food for the future, so today, we are part of the solution to a future world challenge. That forces the industry to have international relations and to build robust international relations. Working with international organizations has been another hallmark of the council, as we have worked with the UN International Labor Organization in an unprecedented way, with the FAO, and the World Organization for Animal Health. Establishing these agreements is fundamental and even obligatory, for us.
Being Chile's second-largest export industry and being the second largest competitor in salmon farming globally requires this.
With aid from the Salmon Council, the salmon industry is leading this for the first time, and that is why our purpose matters so much; we need to lead and promote.
