Fish farming company Salmones Antartica has submitted four proposals to the Chilean government’s Environmental Assessment Service to relocate part of its Aysen Region operations.
The combined cost of the proposals would be around $18 Million (€17.7 million). The company, which farms salmon and trout, has operations in Chile’s Puerto Aysen and Chile Island.
The proposals from the company come as it seeks to adhere to the new rules being imposed by the country’s government on aquaculture companies that seek to “strike the appropriate balance between economic growth, the improvement of the quality of life of the region’s inhabitants, and environmental stewardship.”
“The relocation projects of these salmonid-farming centers are fully integrated with the search for sustainable development, through an activity that has become a regional and national economic motor which has shown that it is feasible to develop by improving environmental standards,” Salmones Antártica said.
Earlier in 2022, Alicia Gallardo, from Chile’s SUBPESCA agency, stated the government’s aims to relocate 500 salmon farming operations, out of a total of 1,320, with some merging together. In total, the country is seeking to reduce the amount of space used by salmon farms by 18 percent.
The first proposal would see the company move party of its Punta Angosta centre to an area of Canal Costa, using it to produce 6,600 metric tons of Atlantic salmon and 5,000 metric tons of coho salmon and rainbow trout.
Another proposal would see Salmones Antarctic move operations to a section of Canal Costa, where it would build a grow-out centre for the production of 6,200 metric tons of Atlantic salmon. It would also produce 4,000 metric tons of coho salmon and rainbow trout.
The third proposal would merge the San Sebastián and Punta Angosta grow out centres into a 10 hectare area in Canal Costa, producing 6,600 metric tons of Atlantic salmon and 5,000 metric tons of coho salmon and rainbow trout.
The final proposal would again see the company merge part of the San Sebastián and Punta Angosta centres into a 10 hectare space in the Canal Costa area, producing 4,000 metric tons of Atlantic salmon and 2,750 metric tons of coho salmon and rainbow trout.
