Chile harvested nearly 1m tonnes of salmonids in 2019
Chilean salmon and trout production reached a record high of almost 1 million tonnes during 2019, according to state aquaculture agency Sernapesca.
The salmonid harvest totalled 989,546 tonnes, 7.1% more than in 2018 (923,900 tonnes), and an increase of 3.6% compared to the previous record of 955,181 tonnes set in 2014.
By species, last year’s Atlantic salmon harvest was 701,984 tonnes (70.9%), while coho salmon and rainbow trout registered 205,386 tonnes (20.8%) and 82,176 tonnes (8.3%), respectively.
The Aysén region produced most in 2019 with 48.7% of the total salmonid harvest, followed by Los Lagos with 39.7%. The Magallanes region in the far south recorded the largest harvest in its history, with 111,556 tonnes of fish, equivalent to 11.3% of the total in 2019.
Mussels
The total harvest for all Chilean aquaculture reached 1,407,458 tonnes during 2019, which is also the highest figure in its history, according to Sernapesca’s 2019 Fisheries and Aquaculture Statistical Yearbook.
The Chilean mussel harvest reached 379,096 tonnes - equivalent to 95.9% of the total molluscs harvested in the year - however, the volume was 4.8% less than in 2018 (398,274 tonnes).
The red algae Gracilaria chilensis, meanwhile, was the algae with the highest harvest volume of 21,841 tonnes, Sernapesca reported.
