MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean farmed salmon sector in dire need of restructuring

Guaranteeing a sustainable salmon industry in Chile requires reorganizing the industry and allowing for the relocation of concessions to larger management areas, said the president of AquaChile company, Victor Hugo Puchi.

"Regulations must be reviewed and adjusted for the future, and not just for this particular situation. Motivation systems among farmers must be created to encourage them to leave highly concentrated areas, and replace these by new ones yet to be defined," pointed out the AquaChile president when interviewed by La Tercera.Puchi made these declarations following the release of a controversial 27 March article in The New York Times, which accused Chilean producers of abusing antibiotics and hormones in salmon farming. The article led Safeway, a United States supermarket chain, to suspend all Chilean salmon import orders. Efforts but also mistakes have been made in how the salmon sector has been communicating its achievements, Puchi said. "Maybe we handled it the wrong way, or simply have not come up with the right approach. This is part of what we are working on," he said. When consulted over the claims of a lack of sanitary controls and of inflicting grave effects on the eco-system, Puchi pointed out: "Criticism has its truths and lies or half-truths. They compare us in a derogatory way with Norwegian standards omitting Chile's contribution to the development of added-value products, with strong impact in regional employment. [The article] insinuated that we were practically operating illegally, which is not true." AquaChile's president believes it is necessary to adjust the regulations framework to the current situation, since there's a large concentration of farming centres in reduced areas, which is "a high risk when controlling contagious disease outbreaks." "In the case of Regions XI and XII, we must learn from our experience in Region X and quickly elaborate new area distance regulations and consolidate areas under one company for more efficient sanitary monitoring. This way, each company will benefit from good management and will assume the costs of getting it wrong," he said. However, not all company heads in the sector agree with his stance, Puchi acknowledged. "There are farmers who have more diversified concessions than others, and are therefore at an advantage. Solutions benefiting the whole sector must be found. A diagnosis has been made and the need for urgent change is being driven by the problems we are facing," he said. Puchi emphasized the urgency in modernizing regulations so as to avoid major setbacks in the future, "keeping in mind the strong social-economic impact the salmon industry has for Chile's southern regions". (FIS).-