Chilean salmon farmer AquaChile has officially ended its use of Chilean lakes for the farming production process, in a process that it says will make its operation more efficient and sustainable.
This change was one of the first put in place after AquaChile, now Chile’s largest salmon producer after its purchase by Agrosuper, integrated into a new parent group. According to a statement, the company voluntarily modified its productive model to eliminate the use of lakes in the process.
As of 31 May, the company has stopped using its 12 lake concessions, which were in the Llanquihue, Rupanco, Chapo, Riesco, and Los Palos lakes.
“Our focus is to work painstaking so that salmon production is more efficient and sustainable. Therefore, this measure, that has already materialized, means a definite step towards the protection and care of lakes in Chile. We hope and want that others follow the same path,” Sady Delgado, AquaChile’s general manager, said.
Production that the company had been performing in the lakes will now be performed in land-based tanks, where it is easier to clean water before returning it to the water tables. The land installations are a high investment and circulate water; they use one thousand times less water than a lake, according to AquaChile. Moreover, the water used in the tanks can be cleaned before returning it to nature.
In the concessions that will no longer be used, the company will monitor environmental conditions in order to facilitate their recovery and protection.
Others are reconsidering their use of lakes for Salmon production based on ecological concerns. Citing demand from its stakeholders, Multiexport Foods announced last week that it would cease to use lakes in Chile for its smolt production by 2020.
