Chile‘s current farming regulations are working effectively but lack incentives to spur innovation, undersecretary of fisheries and aquaculture Alicia Gallardo said

Gallardo gave a positive account of the patchwork of reforms that Chile has implemented to govern its salmon farming industry despite continued opposition from industry leaders on the effectiveness of the new rules. 

The government will incentivize public-private partnerships to solve big issues, as these initiatives have worked well in the past, Gallardo said. The undersecretary made mention of climate change and said continued net-pen escapes that have affected Chile’s industry are an area earmarked for improvement.  

"This is the missing step that we need to take, in innovation," Gallardo said. "There are initiatives from both consumers and producers that will be drivers to develop new innovative ideas." 

Gallardo said that the Chilean government has observed "gigantic steps" in climate change in its data gathering. This year, Chile’s salmon industry was hit by a second deadly wave of algal blooms in Patagonian fjords, killing millions of fish after farmers observed much higher-than-normal temperatures for the summer months in early 2021. 

Chile has collaborated with the United Nations’ Food & Agricultural Organization on a project to mitigate the impact of climate change on its aquaculture industry. Gallardo outlined a study with the University of Aysen in southern Chile to implement integrated multi-trophic aquaculture models as a way of combating climate change in the Chilean south. 

Chile has begun to model the impacts of climate change in 2017, the year after a devastating outbreak of algal bloom that depressed Chilean supply and led to a global increase in prices. The government now has models that can predict changes in disease, algae outbreaks and the loss of immunity to illnesses, Gallardo said. This year’s algae outbreak was spurred by the sunniest and driest summer in the Southern Hemisphere in 50 years, according to producer Salmones Camanchaca, which lost $12 million of biomass in one affected fjord.  

"Climate change is imminent and prevention is key, that’s why we need to improve security standards, the structures of the growing areas to prevent escapes which has been a quite frequent element in Chile," Gallardo said [...]