Moderate and controlled growth

By Gustav-Erik Blaalid gustav@kyst.no

Fish health problems in Chile have been sustained for nearly six years. Only now they start to gain control of what began as an ISA crisis in 2008 and developed into a lice-crisis. For the first time in several years a decline in the number of lice has been reported at the end of February 2014. In Sandoval’s opinion, this is the first sign that the new regulations are beginning to take effect. In addition, prices for Chilean salmon have been higher than ever. - From here on, it should only get better, he believes.

Experienced tightrope Felipe Sandoval has followed aquaculture in Chile at close quarters for many years. His time at Salmon Chile started last autumn, when he was appointed as Secretary General. After some turbulence in the breeders’ organization about how to deal with the new rules and what to think about various measures that have been controversial, seen from their point of view, they brought in a man with both political and bureaucratic experience. This could prove to be a clever move when it comes to the challenges the industry and the organization are facing. Felipe Sandoval was the head of Subsecretaria de Pesca (Chile’s Fisheries Directorate) for many years, he comes from the same party as the country’s newly elected president, Michelle Bachelet, and he was employed in Chile’s largest aquaculture company, Aqua Chile, for some years. In his new job he will balance between the industry’s needs and regulatory requirements. Sandoval is not worried that it will be difficult. - We were in a situation where we no longer had any choice. I believe that this insight is so thorough with the actors in the industry that it is not difficult to gather support for the fundamental changes that have been made. But when it comes to local adaptations, we have to let time help us. There is a big difference in implementing the new rules in an area with many plants compared to areas that are under development, he said.

Density regulation in place The newest regulations in the great reform of Chilean aquaculture are the density regulations adopted six months ago. This means that the new regulations to ensure better practices and operations are in place. The industry is now divided up into production areas (barrios) with rules for how much can be produced, there are provisions on the distance between plants, fallowing, and joint delousing. The new density regulation says that a maximum of 17 kg Atlantic salmon can be produced per cubic meter and 12 kilograms per cubic meter for trout and coho. These amounts apply only if the situation at the plant is satisfactory. If fish health is poor at a plant, e.g. disease outbreak or the amount of lice exceeds the set limits, the requirement for fish density may be enhanced such that one is not allowed to have as much as 17 kilos of salmon per cubic meter. At worst, poor fish health and lots of lice may lead to forced slaughter of all the fish and fallowing of the site. - Do you have any examples of companies that have been ordered to slaughter all fish and fallow the site? - Yes, it happened in one case. Having said that, I want to point to the fact that the control regime is not yet fully in place. In order for the new rules to be enforced the control regime must be up and running. This is finally starting to fall into place, so I am very confident that we will eventually see the fruits of this work, says Felipe Sandoval.

Good prospects Not only is the development of prices positive for the Chilean salmon at the moment, but the companies are earning money again and the fish health situation is improving. Sandoval and Salmon Chile are glad to see the market development in Latin America, especially in Brazil where growth in salmon consumption has been impressive. A growing middle class in that country has developed a taste for salmon from Chile and they want more. Argentina is developing. However, production growth in Chile will be moderate, which Sandoval takes as a sure sign that prices will stabilize at a high level, not unlike the situation we have in Norway. - But we need more markets than Latin America and the United States. We need markets everywhere so that not all the eggs fall into the same basket, says Sandoval.