A native of San Francisco, Christian Molinari has lived and worked in Chile for over 20 years, after having arrived in Santiago as a volunteer and falling in love with the culture and its people. He covered business news in Latin America for over a decade, worked in communications at IBM Chile, and currently freelances in strategic communications and reporting.
Author Archive
Mortality figures at several Chilean salmon farms continue to climb due to a harmful algal bloom event that has recently affected operations in southern Chile’s Aysén region.
The bloom began 31 December 2023 and was originally reported 2 January 2024, when Chile’s National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (Sernapesca) announced that the event had caused mortality impacting 2,854 metric tons (MT) of Atlantic and coho salmon.
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Peru’s industrial anchovy fishing fleet has caught 71 percent of the 1.68 million metric tons (MT) available in its total allowable catch, which was established 26 October 2023 when the Peruvian Ministry of Production (PRODUCE) launched the second anchovy fishery season in the country’s north-central zone.
The launch of the second season came on the heels of the cancelation of the first season of 2023 – partly due to the
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Chile President Gabriel Boric has signed a bill that seeks to replace the country’s highly contentious fisheries law, which Boric and others claim has allowed for instances of corruption in the nation’s fishing sector.
“The past, present, and future of our country is inextricably linked to the sea. We have to say it: The current fishing law has no legitimacy and does not meet the standards that democracy demands,” Boric
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In addition to battling suppressed international prices and irregular El Niño-driven weather conditions, Ecuador’s multi-billion-dollar shrimp sector is now facing three other obstacles: a proposed increase in taxes, higher logistics costs on the horizon, and sustained crime rates.
At the end of November, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa put a tax reform bill up for consideration to the country’s National Assembly. The
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Santiago, Chile-based seafood firm Blumar saw its negative financial performance continue in the third quarter of 2023, replicating its Q2 2023 performance, with its fishing operations performing solidly but not well enough to make up for the company’s lackluster performance in its salmon-farming segment.
Blumar's Q3 2023 revenue was USD 152 million (EUR 139 million), down 15 percent compared to the USD 179 million (EUR 163 million) the
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Struggling Chilean salmon farmer Nova Austral recently posted significant Q3 2023 losses, and its creditors have rejected its proposed reorganization deal.
In June 2023, while facing sanctions handed down by Chile’s environmental regulator, the company’s first attempt at restructuring failed. Nova Austral then presented its first draft of the recently rejected reorganization plan at the beginning of August. Nova Austral’s
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Chilean salmonid exports reached USD 6.6 billion (EUR 6.2 billion) in 2022, a 27.4 percent year-over-year jump that cemented the industry's status as the country's second-largest export sector after mining.
However, the financial gains have been paired with greater environmental scrutiny of the industry's ecological side effects of salmon farming, resulting in Chile President Gabriel Boric opposing any expansion of salmon production.
In
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Puerto Montt, Chile-based salmon producer Multi X said it achieved a “historical” harvest in Q3 2023, resulting in a successful quarter despite high operational costs and lower year-over-year sales prices.
The company’s Q3 2023 harvest volume of Atlantic salmon reached 31,473 metric tons (MT) whole-fish equivalent (WFE), which aligned with its growth plan. The figure represented a 33.8 percent jump when compared to the 23,530
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The Chilean and Chinese governments signed an agreement in mid-October that will result in an increase exports of Chilean aquaculture products, including fresh coho salmon, to China.
The Chilean National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (Sernapesca) celebrated the agreement, while publicly, Chile's largest coho farmers have been more reserved in their approach.
“I want to highlight the protocol where the Chinese Customs Authority will
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The El Niño weather pattern that has affected the fishing sectors of Peru and other Latin American countries this year may be sticking around longer than anticipated, a potential outcome that is alarming the region’s fishers and aquaculture farmers.
According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the ongoing El Niño event – a climate pattern that causes ocean surface warming in the central and eastern Pacific
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