Aquaculture in Chile
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Aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), 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 (e.g. lot ...
is a major economic activity in
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...
. Among the diverse aquacultures practised in Chile,
Atlantic salmon The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlantic salmon are ...
aquaculture is by far the largest sector. Apart from salmon and trout, Chilean aquaculture also produces turbots and
mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000  extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is est ...
s, in particular ''
Mytilus platensis The Chilean mussel''Mytilus chilensis'' (Hupé, 1854)
Sealifebase.org< ...
'' (still often referred to as '' Mytilus chilensis''), Northern scallops,
Pacific oyster The Pacific oyster, Japanese oyster, or Miyagi oyster (''Magallana gigas''), is an oyster native to the Pacific coast of Asia. It has become an introduced species in North America, Australia, Europe, and New Zealand. Etymology The genus ''Mag ...
s, '' Aulacomya ater'' (a giant mussel),
red abalone ''Haliotis rufescens'' (red abalone) is a species of very large edible sea snail in the family Haliotidae, the abalones, ormer shells or paua.Rosenberg, G. (2014)''Haliotis rufescens'' Swainson, 1822.Accessed through: World Register of Marine S ...
, and Chilean oysters. In terms of
algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular micr ...
'' Gracillaria chilensis'' is cultivated and harvested. 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 Los Lagos Region ( es, Región de Los Lagos , ''Region of the Lakes'') is one of Chile's 16 regions, which are first order administrative divisions, and comprises four provinces: Chiloé, Llanquihue, Osorno and Palena. The region contains ...
and to a lesser extent the
fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icel ...
s and channels of more southern Aysén and Magallanes regions.


Salmon

Up until 2007, Chile experienced over 15 years of important growth in its salmon aquaculture, becoming the second largest salmon and
trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...
producer after
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...
.Dying assets
''
The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...
''.
By 2006 Chile contributed with 38% of the world's salmon volume just behind Norway that produced 39% of it. In 2006, salmon from Chilean aquacultures was the third largest export product in terms of value, representing 3.9% of Chilean exports behind
copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pink ...
and
molybdenum Molybdenum is a chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42 which is located in period 5 and group 6. The name is from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'', which is based on Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lead ...
.The fishery and aquaculture sectors in Chile
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Ecological impact

Industrial aquaculture firstly sees millions of escapee fish into the native ecosystem every year 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. The unregulated use of chemical compounds, such as antibiotics used to prevent infections, may influence the entire ecosystem 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 Infectious salmon anemia (ISA) is a viral disease of Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') caused by ''Salmon isavirus''. It affects fish farms in Canada, Norway, Scotland and Chile, causing severe losses to infected farms. ISA has been a Worl ...
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.
Atlantic salmon The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlantic salmon are ...
production in Chile has fallen from 400,000 to 100,000 tonnes from 2005 to 2010. By 2009 a salmon executive expected production to go back to the 2007 levels within four years. The 2007 infection led to more stringent sanitary regulations.Lucia Newman
Chile salmon: Too delicious to be true?
''Aljazeera.com'', 22 March 2017


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 A harmful algal bloom (HAB) (or excessive algae growth) is an algal bloom that causes negative impacts to other organisms by production of natural algae-produced toxins, mechanical damage to other organisms, or by other means. HABs are sometimes ...
harmful algal blooms in the region. Following this outbreak, from 2016 and 2018, 40 thousand tons of salmon were lost following fatal health issues (0,9% of the total salmons cultivated in Chilean seawaters), but salmon producers deny the direct link between their activities and the red tide outbreak. 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


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 {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...
. 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.Grupos extranjeros pasarían a controlar 37% de los envíos de salmón chileno
''Terram.cl''


References


External links

* {{fishing industry topics, expanded=aquaculture Agriculture in Chile
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...
Fishing in Chile