Chile’s salmon-farming industry has proven adept at bouncing back from environmental and phytosanitary crises, and currently it is riding undeniably high. Last year farmed salmon took sole possession of second place on the list of the country’s greatest export earners, generating a record US$5.18 billion in foreign exchange behind Chile’s perennial export leader, copper, which brought in $37.4 billion. Though salmon is not native to Chile, the fish has been farmed there for over four decades in cages in the Pacific Ocean and freshwater lakes. Based originally in the Los Lagos and Aysén regions of Patagonia, salmon operations have expanded in recent years to largely pristine and highly biodiverse Magallanes, Chile’s southernmost region. Fewer salmon concessions have won government approval there—thus far 128, compared to 724 in Aysén and 540 in Los Lagos. But the growth in Magallanes is fastest. The region has 428 additional salmon farms... [Log in to read more]