SalmonChile presented its tenth Sustainability report during Innaqua 2025, marking a decade of uninterrupted publication of the sector's economic, social, and environmental indicators. At the event, SalmonChile's Director of Communities, Felipe Díaz; the association's Director of Communications, Francisco Renner; and Intesal's Health and Safety Coordinator, Alexander Jaramillo, presented the main results of the 2024 operation of the association's member producer companies.
Renner stated: “Today, the world faces a double challenge: feeding a growing global population while urgently reducing the environmental impact of animal protein production. In this context, for Chilean salmon farming, producing sustainably ceased to be an ideal years ago and became a basic condition for participating in the future. In this challenge, Chilean salmon farming knows its role perfectly and has embraced it with determination.”
Díaz also stated: “Salmon farming has the installed capacities, tools, equipment, and learning necessary to advance the challenge posed by the blue economy. Our sector has evolved significantly in the last six years toward an innovative, coordinated activity valued by local communities and with tangible positive impacts from Biobío to Magallanes.”
The report also confirms that salmon will remain Chile's second most exported product in 2024 after copper, with shipments totaling USD 6.4 billion, surpassing pulp, cherries, wood, and wine. These results position Chile as the world's second-largest salmon producer and exporter.
Among the most significant economic figures, the payment of USD 17.2 million for concessions, patents, and contributions stands out, resources that generate a direct and significant contribution to local and regional public finances. This, in addition to total economic contributions of more than USD 5.5 billion in 2024, including USD 3.4 billion in purchases from domestic suppliers, 75% of which was allocated to suppliers in southern Chile.
In 2024, investment in research, development, and innovation reached USD 17.5 billion, an increase of 155% compared to 2023, highlighting the sector's commitment to innovation. Thirty-five percent was allocated to technology, 35% to fish health, 20% to the environment, 5% to artificial intelligence, and 5% to other topics. Regarding this, Renner added: “In the last year, our partner companies made decisive progress in sustainability, innovation, and a closer relationship with the territories. They incorporated artificial intelligence into multiple stages of the value chain, from food to environmental monitoring, and we even developed new coastal clean-up tools using satellite imagery. These are concrete, measured, and verified advances that reflect a process of continuous improvement based on science and a long-term vision.”
Regarding antibiotic use, the report indicates that an increase was recorded during 2024, reaching 376 grams of antibiotics per thousand kilograms of salmon harvested, compared to 236 in 2023. This increase is explained by particularly challenging environmental conditions. However, this indicator remains below the historical average and is part of the general downward trend observed in the last decade, which shows a reduction of more than 20%.
In 2024, the Yelcho Project was launched, a public-private partnership involving SalmonChile, Sernapesca, SAG, and 11 companies (90% of national production) to develop vaccines and immunological solutions to reduce antibiotic use. Furthermore, non-pharmacological strategies against caligus almost doubled their reach, affecting 45% of the biomass compared to 24% in 2023.
Likewise, the “Committed to the Sea” campaign advanced with the pilot “Beach Observatory” to monitor hard areas to reach and the first formal water footprint measurement under ISO 14,046, along with the revaluation of 15,950 tons of waste and 72 reports on algal blooms. Furthermore, 100% of the biomass produced by social enterprises is internationally certified (BAP, ASC, and/or Global Gap), consolidating Chile as a benchmark for sustainable growth and the blue economy.
The report also highlights the “Dialogues for the Salmon Farming of the Future” initiative, which brought together more than 1,000 people in eight discussions in southern Chile during 2024, culminating in the publication of a book that compiles these proposals and which has been distributed among authorities since last year.
Díaz concluded: “What is needed, and urgently needed, are enabling frameworks that connect our public policies with our potential. There is no time for fragmented models or regulations designed based on mistrust, bureaucracy, or centralism. The blue economy will only be possible if the State, the private sector, communities, and science work together on a common roadmap.”
