An investor group has announced intentions to install a ARS 12.5 billion (USD 7.8 million, EUR 6.8 million) land-based recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) salmon farm in Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego province.
The move comes after provincial legislators voted 8 to 7 at the end of 2025 to amend Law 1,355, which the Tierra del Fuego government unanimously approved in 2021 to prohibit salmon farming. At the time of the law’s passing, it was widely celebrated by environmentalists and other NGOs such as Greenpeace, which hailed the move as a safeguard for one of Earth’s biodiversity hotspots.
The 2025 amendment to allow for fish farming in the province again calls for “sustainable aquaculture” and includes a number of environmental restrictions and government oversight.
Now, a group of Chilean and Argentinean investors has partnered with local businessman Osvaldo Romero, owner of the land where the facilities will be located, to build a RAS facility on an 80-hectare property located north of the city of Río Grande. The project is estimated to result in 200 to 250 direct jobs, which could expand to 500 when indirect services are considered.
Romero told local media outlet El Pingüino that a group of investors from Salta, Argentina, will participate in the business and has already sealed a strategic partnership with an unidentified Chilean company that has a long history in the salmon-farming industry. Romero said the name of the company is confidential at the moment due to nondisclosure agreements.
“We have been planning this project for practically a year; it was discussed in the legislature, and we held meetings with the Chamber of Commerce,” Romero added on Aire Libre radio.
Romero estimated that the construction of the tanks will take about six months, with production ready to launch by the end of 2027. The initial phase involves importing smolts from Chile to start the production cycle and subsequently developing local breeding in Río Grande, he said.
The Río Grande facility may be the first of several ventures to follow now that the province has allowed aquaculture again. When Tierra del Fuego was reconsidering its aquaculture ban, businessmen in the province announced interest in investing in such opportunities, citing a desire to diversify their business portfolios. For instance, Rubén Cherñajovsky, founder of Newsan – one of the province’s largest manufacturers, importers, and distributors of consumer electronics and home appliances – said last year he would pledge significant investment should aquaculture be allowed.
However, conservation organizations and Indigenous groups have voiced concern over the practice returning to the province.
“The vote [on Law 1,355] reflects strong political pressure in a context of economic distress, but it also followed unprecedented public mobilization and opposition. Thanks to community pressure, the process was delayed as long as possible and generated a wide public debate,” Agustina Copello, a project coordinator at the Global Salmon Farming Resistance (GSFR), which is a global alliance comprising NGOs, activists, scientists, and individuals who strive to keep oceans free from open-net salmon farms, told SeafoodSource last year. “We see the modification of Law 1,355 as a serious setback, as it weakens a landmark law that, since 2021, prohibited salmon farming in the province’s marine and freshwater areas and opens the door to open-net salmon farming in other coastal waters.”
