The Chilean arm of salmon-farming firm Cooke Aquaculture has submitted a proposal to the national Environmental Assessment Service (SEA) to relocate one of its grow-out centers in the south of the country.
The proposed USD 6 million (EUR 5.1 million) project would move the original concession located in Punta Caldera in the municipality and region of Aysén, to a replacement concession in an area deemed appropriate for aquaculture activity in Estero Cupquelán, southwest of Punta Ballena, also located in the municipality and region of Aysén.
Cooke Chile has been trying to relocate a number of its concessions for years. Together with fellow salmon farmer AquaChile, Cooke Aquaculture signed an agreement with the Chilean government in December 2023 to relocate a total of nine aquaculture concessions, effectively moving their operations from three national parks – Isla Magdalena, Laguna San Rafael, and Bernardo O’Higgins. However, the moves have been caught up in red tape. The administration of President José Antonio Kast, who took office in March, has been outspoken in its intention to cut down on government bureaucracy to free up investments and drive business.
In the proposed project now submitted to the SEA, Cooke Chile attached a copy of a letter from Chile’s Undersecretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Subpesca, which notified the company it should carry out the procedure.
The new grow-out center would be located on 3.9 hectares of sea. In terms of operation, the center would have maximum production of 2,750 metric tons (MT) of Atlantic salmon per 15-month production cycle, and a maximum production of 1,400 MT of coho salmon per 7-month production cycle. It would have 14 square pens each measuring 40 meters x 40 meters x 15 meters. Access to the center would be exclusively by sea.
The estimated start date of project execution is 1 June, 2029, with a useful life of 25 years, renewable for an equal period of time.
Under the former administration of President Gabriel Boric, Cooke Aquaculture Chile CEO Andrés Parodi had harshly criticized the environmental authority’s disciplinary measures against the salmon farmer for supposed environmental risk. He said the process was unprecedented, nonsensical, and arbitrary and claimed the watchdog had been “blinded by its unlimited and ideological power.”
