Ricardo Garcia Holtz is chairman of the Chilean Salmon Marketing Council and CEO of Salmones Camanchaca.
SeafoodSource: What is the background of the Chilean Salmon Marketing Council, its structure, and its purpose?
Garcia: The Chilean Salmon Marketing Council (CSMC) is a U.S.-based corporation dedicated to strengthening consumer awareness and the positive association and reputation of Chilean salmon. It is funded directly by the Instituto de Marketing del Salmón, a Chilean non-profit organization based in Puerto Montt, Chile’s salmon farming capital. Founding members include farmers Aquachile, Australis, Blumar Seafoods, Salmones Austral, Cermaq Chile, Los Fiordos, Marine Farm, Ventisqueros, Multiexport Foods, Salmones Magallanes, and Salmones Camanchaca.
For more than 30 years, the Chilean salmon industry has produced and sold farmed Atlantic salmon in the United States, grown in the southern and Patagonia part of the country, generating not only the largest economic sector in these territories, but also the second-largest world producer of the healthiest and most sustainable protein available. This is the first time that we collectively and pre-competitively are promoting Chile as a source of origin for farmed salmon for U.S. consumers.
SeafoodSource: What are your main duties at CSMC?
Garcia: CSMC will generate stronger positioning of Chilean farmed salmon by communicating that we are responsible producers both environmentally and socially. The role of the board is to define strategy and messaging and to monitor progress. As chair, this is my focus.
SeafoodSource: What qualities are needed to be effective in the chairman’s role?
Garcia: I think the most important competency in this new endeavor is to prioritize the scope of the work, the audiences, and the mechanisms that will be used to convey them, as this is an area where one can be lost in the vastness of it. Progress will be accomplished step by step with a long-term view. We aim to be positioned as the healthiest protein available year-round to all Americans and assure them that Chilean farmers are responsible and sustainable in their practice.
SeafoodSource: What specific challenges and opportunities are presented by the U.S. market? Are there particular barriers on product perception or price that need to be overcome?
Garcia: The main challenge and opportunity, at the same time, is that per-capita seafood consumption in the U.S. is low compared to other countries. We need to educate American consumers so they grow to appreciate the benefits of consuming seafood. Another challenge is geography and the lack of familiarity with Chile, which is a small and distant country, and with Patagonia, which is even more remote. The richness and purity of our ocean waters in the salmon farming area is yet to be appreciated. And lastly, that Chileans are as good a producer as anyone else in the northern hemisphere, though many consumers don’t know this. Becoming America’s favorite salmon and a first choice with consumers in a market that is the single largest [in the world] are goals both challenging and also passionate.
SeafoodSource: How does the approach to the United States differ from what the CSMC is doing to promote Chilean salmon in other parts of the world?
Garcia: The only other experience is in Brazil, where the outcome has been very positive, more than doubling the market in the past six to seven years. In the U.S., the market is vastly larger in terms of geographic size and dollar value than Brazil, more sophisticated and demanding, but Brazil offers good data. We will have to be very precise and focus on what we do to be effective.
SeafoodSource: What are three things people would be surprised to learn about Chilean salmon?
Garcia: That after 35 years of development, we have built a sustainable world-class industry that offers happy farmed fish. That our environmental stewardship has been at world-class standards, employing thousands of qualified people that look for a perfect product; we have high regulatory and ethical standards. And that Chilean salmon grow faster and with more space in the pens than many other competitive fish, thus generating an environmental footprint much more consistent with the needs of our planet.
