Chilean fishing company FoodCorp, which is owned by Norwegian firm Austevoll Seafood, has announced it will take legal action against the Chilean government over a fishing quota bill that was approved last year.
The company is the latest to announce legal action against the government, joining fellow fishing firms Alimar, Camanchaca, and Blumar, as well as Landes, in filing claims for compensation of damages.
Under the nation’s previous fishing law, quotas were established in 2012 and were set to last 20 years, with the possibility of renewal; however, former Chilean President Gabriel Boric implemented a new law in 2025 that revoked the previously established quotas, seeking to distribute biomass more equitably among artisanal fishers by shifting quotas away from industrial firms.
As a result, several firms have sued, claiming covert expropriation.
“Our sector is convinced that we are facing a covert expropriation since we have been deprived of a participation in the fishing quotas that for years have been the basis of investments, employment contracts of hundreds of workers, supply agreements, and commitments in international markets – clear rules that were defined by law until 2032,” FoodCorp Chile CEO Andrés Daroch said.
The company reported it has already performed legal analysis of the new law’s impacts, for which it will file legal action over the property and economic losses that the new regulation is expected to generate.
“The State of Chile, with the [newly introduced] quotation law … reassigned quotas without considering that investments and long-term planning had been made. All of this was ignored by Chilean institutions. In our case, we estimate a loss of more than USD 100 million [EUR 86.6 million], which we hope to recover in this lawsuit,” Daroch said.
FoodCorp, which has operated in the city of Coronel in Chile’s central-southern Biobío region for more than 20 years, also questioned the legislative introduction of an exclusive tax for the Biobío region, associated with the international purchase of mackerel. That levy will generate greater operational restrictions and represent a significant increase in the costs of conducting business, it said.
“The blow to the country's credibility, its legal stability, and reliability for foreign investors is significant,” Daroch said. “FoodCorp has a deep commitment to Coronel – a municipality with serious employment and development issues – as well as to its more than 650 workers. That’s why we have an obligation to protect our operation and future viability."
Present in Chile since 1991, Austevoll Seafood acquired FoodCorp in 2003.
The company produces fishmeal, fish oil, canned and frozen fish, and giant squid for direct and indirect human consumption and boasts a fleet of modernized purse-seine vessels. Its main operation is in Coronel Bay, located 500 kilometers south of Santiago.
