Chilean aquaculture exports have taken a long leap toward erasing the algae-bloom related losses of 2015-2016, judging by numbers released by National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service, Sernapesca, at the weekend.
The Atlantic salmon harvest was up 15 percent in 2017 to 582,000 tonnes. While in the dominant salmon-farming regions, Region X and Region XI — affected in 2018 by a new algae bloom — production of Atlantics was 312,000 and 192,000, respectively.
In an aquaculture segment dominated by salmon, large numbers of trout and increasing numbers of Coho, Atlantic salmon still made up 50 percent of all seafood exported. Overall, 80 percent of the value and 55 percent of the volume of Chile’s seafood exports came from aquaculture in 2017.
Chileans exported 615,000 t of farmed fish in 2017 worth USD4.56 billion, or up 23 percent year-on-year. Atlantic salmon production still makes up 68 percent of the aquaculture sector’s value, up 18 percent over 2016 despite four percent fewer fish overall.
Atlantic Salmon export value reached USD3.1million, or 55 percent of all fisheries exports.
When it comes to ova, Sernapesca said 654 million eggs — 11 percent more than in 2016 — were produced during the year. However, the number of imported eggs reached 7.5 billion, mostly from Iceland.
Meanwhile, Coho salmon exports were up 86 percent year-on-year on higher prices, although they’re still just 11 percent of total salmon exports.
