Aquaculture in Chile

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Aquaculture fish farming in the Estero de Castro inlet of Chiloe Island 2019-03-16 01 Aquaculture in Chile.jpg
Aquaculture fish farming in the Estero de Castro inlet of Chiloé Island
Mussel aquaculture farming in the fjords of southern Chile 2019-03-16 03 Aquaculture in Chile.jpg
Mussel aquaculture farming in the fjords of southern Chile

Aquaculture is a major economic activity in Chile. Among the diverse aquacultures practised in Chile, Atlantic salmon aquaculture is by far the largest sector. Apart from salmon and trout, Chilean aquaculture also produces turbots and molluscs, in particular Mytilus platensis (still often referred to as Mytilus chilensis ), Northern scallops, Pacific oysters, Aulacomya ater (a giant mussel), red abalone, and Chilean oysters. [1] In terms of algae Gracillaria chilensis is cultivated and harvested. [1]

Contents

The main areas of aquaculture in Chile lie in the southern half of the country in particular in the interior waters of Los Lagos Region and to a lesser extent the fjords and channels of more southern Aysén and Magallanes regions. [1]

Salmon

Up until 2007, Chile experienced over 15 years of important growth in its salmon aquaculture, becoming the second largest salmon and trout producer after Norway. [1] [2] By 2006 Chile contributed with 38% of the world's salmon volume just behind Norway that produced 39% of it. [1] In 2006, salmon from Chilean aquacultures was the third largest export product in terms of value, representing 3.9% of Chilean exports behind copper and molybdenum. [1]

Ecological impact

Industrial aquaculture firstly sees millions of escapee fish into the native ecosystem every year [3] In October 2018, a major breach at the salmon culture center of Punta Redonda (managed by Marine Harvest) led to the leakage of 690,000 salmons in the country' s rivers. Those salmons were treated with Florfenicol, thus not edible by humans. [4] [5]

The unregulated use of chemical compounds, such as antibiotics used to prevent infections, may influence the entire ecosystem [6] as well as copper used as antifouling (Buschmann et al. 2006) and litter (Pumalin, 2008); and the loading of nutrients from aquaculture into the interior sea and lakes and nutrients from large scale mussel farms

The industry has suffered a severe recession since the sudden appearance and outbreak of infectious salmon anemia in 2007 coupled with the Late-2000s financial crisis. This has led the crisis to have been labeled "the perfect storm" by a Chilean salmon executive.[ who? ] [7] Atlantic salmon production in Chile has fallen from 400,000 to 100,000 tonnes from 2005 to 2010. [8] By 2009 a salmon executive expected production to go back to the 2007 levels within four years. [2] The 2007 infection led to more stringent sanitary regulations. [9]

The nets of the salmon cages have occasionally killed endangered whales as it happened in 2020 with a sei whale near Guaitecas Archipelago. [10]

Harmful algal blooms and industrial salmon aquaculture

Studies undertaken by marine biologists aim to verify the link between the waste generated by the salmon industry in the Chilean oceanic waters and the outbreak of the highly toxic red tide harmful algal blooms in the region. [9] Following this outbreak, from 2016 and 2018, 40 thousand tons of salmon were lost following fatal health issues (0.9% of the total salmon cultivated in Chilean seawaters), but salmon producers deny the direct link between their activities and the red tide outbreak. [11]

Evidence from Comau Fiord where a Harmful Algal Bloom caused a mass die of cold water coral reefs was directly linked to the eutrophic conditions causing HABs from the Salmon Farms in the area. This was clearer than the open sea being a semi enclosed basin [12]

Aquaculture and private property rights in the sea

Aquaculture in Chile is regulated by the 1989 Fisheries and Aquaculture Law, and concessions on waterbodies and other state property for establishment of aquacultures are granted by the Ministry of Defence. [13]

However differently to any other country in the world, the Chilean government has given these marine spaces private property rights. This means it is impossible for the public scientific regulator IFOP to access the area to take benthic or water quality samples. That means through the fluid nature of the sea, the ecological impacts are felt in common while the profits are kept private by the corporation. It is hoped in the future that fair regulation will evolve, allowing greater transparency over this highly profitable industry.

In November 2018, the Chinese company Joyvio Group bought the Chilean salmon producer Australis Seafoods for $880 million, thus gaining control over 30% of all Chilean salmon exports. [14] [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aquaculture</span> Farming of aquatic organisms

Aquaculture, also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants. Aquaculture involves cultivating freshwater, brackish water and saltwater populations under controlled or semi-natural conditions, and can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is the harvesting of wild fish. Mariculture, commonly known as marine farming, is aquaculture in seawater habitats and lagoons, as opposed to freshwater aquaculture. Pisciculture is a type of aquaculture that consists of fish farming to obtain fish products as food.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue mussel</span> Species of mollusc

The blue mussel, also known as the common mussel, is a medium-sized edible marine bivalve mollusc in the family Mytilidae, the mussels. Blue mussels are subject to commercial use and intensive aquaculture. A species with a large range, empty shells are commonly found on beaches around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aysén Region</span> Region of Chile

The Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region, often shortened to Aysén Region or Aisén, is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. Although the third largest in area, the region is Chile's most sparsely populated region with a population of 102,317 as of 2017. The capital of the region is Coihaique, the region's former namesake.

Mowi ASA, formerly known as Marine Harvest ASA, , is a Norwegian seafood company with operations in a number of countries around the world. The company's primary interest is fish farming, primarily salmon, the operations of which are focused on Norway, Scotland, Canada, the Faroe Islands, Ireland and Chile. The group has a share of 25 to 30% of the global salmon and trout market, making it the world's largest company in the sector. Mowi also owns a 'value added processing' unit, which prepares and distributes a range of seafood products, and a number of smaller divisions.

<i>Heterosigma akashiwo</i> Species of alga

Heterosigma akashiwo is a species of microscopic algae of the class Raphidophyceae. It is a swimming marine alga that episodically forms toxic surface aggregations known as harmful algal bloom. The species name akashiwo is from the Japanese for "red tide".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture</span> Type of aquaculture

Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) provides the byproducts, including waste, from one aquatic species as inputs for another. Farmers combine fed aquaculture with inorganic extractive and organic extractive aquaculture to create balanced systems for environment remediation (biomitigation), economic stability and social acceptability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patagonian red octopus</span> Medium-sized octopus, and the type species for the genus Enteroctopus

Enteroctopus megalocyathus, also known as Patagonian red octopus (EN), Pulpo del sur (Chile) and Pulpo colorado (Argentina); is a medium-sized octopus, and the type species for the genus Enteroctopus.

The Cawthron Institute is New Zealand's largest independent science organisation, specialising in science that supports the environment and development within primary industries. Cawthron has its main facilities in Nelson. It works with regional councils, government departments, major industries, private companies, and other research organisations throughout New Zealand and around the world. Cawthron employs approximately 300 scientists, laboratory technicians, researchers and specialist staff from 26 countries. It has both chemistry and microbiology labs, and has a major focus on food related testing for food safety and export certification. Cawthron holds IANZ accreditation for a wide range of tests. Its scientists include experts in aquaculture, marine and freshwater resources, food safety and quality, algal technologies, biosecurity and analytical testing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chilean mussel</span> Species of bivalve

The Chilean mussel or Chilean blue mussel is a species of blue mussel native to the coasts of Chile from Biobío Region to Cape Horn. Today genomic evidence confirmed that the native Chilean blue mussel is genetically distinct from the Northern Hemisphere M. edulis, M. galloprovincialis and M. trossulus and also genetically different from Mytilus platensis,the other species of smooth shelled mussel from South America.

This page is a list of fishing topics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dredge oyster</span> Species of bivalve

The dredge oyster, Bluff oyster or Chilean oyster, is also known in Chile as ostra verde, is a species of bivalve mollusc in the family Ostreidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aquaculture in New Zealand</span>

Aquaculture started to take off in New Zealand in the 1980s. It is dominated by mussels, oysters and salmon. In 2007, aquaculture generated about NZ$360 million in sales on an area of 7,700 hectares. $240 million was earned in exports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aquaculture in Canada</span>

Aquaculture is the farming of fish, shellfish or aquatic plants in either fresh or saltwater, or both. The farmed animals or plants are cared for under a controlled environment to ensure optimum growth, success and profit. When they have reached an appropriate size, they are harvested, processed, and shipped to markets to be sold. Aquaculture is practiced all over the world and is extremely popular in countries such as China, where population is high and fish is a staple part of their everyday diet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Offshore aquaculture</span> Fish farms in waters some distance away from the coast

Offshore aquaculture, also known as open water aquaculture or open ocean aquaculture, is an emerging approach to mariculture where fish farms are positioned in deeper and less sheltered waters some distance away from the coast, where the cultivated fish stocks are exposed to more naturalistic living conditions with stronger ocean currents and more diverse nutrient flow. Existing "offshore" developments fall mainly into the category of exposed areas rather than fully offshore. As maritime classification society DNV GL has stated, development and knowledge-building are needed in several fields for the available deeper water opportunities to be realized.

<i>Pyura chilensis</i> Species of sea squirt

Pyura chilensis, called piure in Spanish and piür or piwü in Mapudungun, is a tunicate of the family Pyuridae. It was described in 1782 by Juan Ignacio Molina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Azaspiracid</span> Chemical compound

Azaspiracids (AZA) are a group of polycyclic ether marine algal toxins produced by the small dinoflagellate Azadinium spinosum that can accumulate in shellfish and thereby cause illness in humans.

The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is an independent non-profit organisation and labelling organization that establishes protocol on farmed seafood while ensuring sustainable aquaculture. The ASC provides producers with a certification of environmental sustainability and social responsibility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aquaculture in the United Kingdom</span>

Aquaculture in the United Kingdom is dominated by salmon farming, then by mussel production with trout being the third most important enterprise. Aquaculture in the United Kingdom represents a significant business for the UK, producing over 200,000 tonnes of fish whilst earning over £700 million in 2012 (€793 million).

Swiftia comauensis species of gorgonian-type octocoral in the family Plexauridae, only found in the Comau fiords of Huinay in the Hualaihué province of the region of Los Lagos, Chile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red tide crisis in Chiloé</span>

The red tide crisis in Chiloé, also known as "Chilote May", was a social, economic and environmental catastrophe that occurred in the Chiloé Archipelago, southern Chile, in the southern autumn of 2016, as a result of a severe algal bloom of the dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella — a microalgae responsible for the phenomenon known as red tide. The bloom spanned the months of March and April and affected the outer sea of the Los Lagos Region, the inland coast of Chiloé, and the Chacao Channel. It affected thousands of artisanal fishermen on the Chiloé Island —in addition to other communes such as Calbuco, Maullín and Puerto Montt because they prohibited from extracting marine resources due to widsepread contamination with paralytic shellfish poison (PSP).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 The fishery and aquaculture sectors in Chile
  2. 1 2 Dying assets, The Economist .
  3. ↑ Niklitschek, E. J., Soto, D., Lafon, A., Molinet, C., & Toledo, P. (2013). Southward expansion of the Chilean salmon industry in the Patagonian Fjords: main environmental challenges. Reviews in Aquaculture, 5(3), 172-195.
  4. ↑ (in Spanish) Miguel Sanchez, Se escaparon 690.000 salmones en Chile que no pueden ser consumidos por humanos, Elobservador.com.uy, 4 October 2018
  5. ↑ (in Spanish) Yasna Mussa, Una fuga de casi 700.000 salmones en Chile alarma a los ambientalistas, Nytimes.com, 3 October 2018
  6. ↑ Buschmann, A. H., Tomova, A., López, A., Maldonado, M. A., Henríquez, L. A., Ivanova, L., ... & Cabello, F. C. (2012). Salmon aquaculture and antimicrobial resistance in the marine environment. PLOS ONE, 7(8), e42724.
  7. ↑ Virus, crisis: Perfect storm hits Chile salmon industry
  8. ↑ The Salmon Disease Crisis in Chile, Britannica.
  9. 1 2 Lucia Newman, Chile salmon: Too delicious to be true?, Aljazeera.com, 22 March 2017
  10. ↑ Posner, Julia (2023-07-19). "Revelan impactante video de la muerte de una ballena sei que enmalló en una jaula salmonera en 2020". Ladera Sur (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-07-20.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  11. ↑ (in Spanish) Salmón Chile: Pérdidas por bloom de algas son mucho menores que en 2016, Cooperativa.cl, 15 February 2018
  12. ↑ Försterra, G., Häussermann, V., Laudien, J., Jantzen, C., Sellanes, J., & Muñoz, P. (2014). Mass die-off of the cold-water coral Desmophyllum dianthus in the Chilean Patagonian fjord region. Bulletin of Marine Science, 90(3), 895-899
  13. ↑ National Aquaculture Legislation Overview: Chile. FAO
  14. ↑ (in Spanish) SalmonChile: compra de Australis Seafoods demuestra que salmón tiene futuro en China Archived 2019-12-21 at the Wayback Machine , Elmercurio.com, 19 November 2018
  15. ↑ (in Spanish) Grupos extranjeros pasarían a controlar 37% de los envíos de salmón chileno, Terram.cl
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