Intersal held a seminar on “Seabed and salmon farming: science and technology for sustainability”.

The Salmon Technology Institute (Intesal) held the seminar “Seabed and salmon farming: science and technology for sustainability”, within the framework of the Science Plan, an initiative that seeks to respond to existing knowledge gaps that are related to productive activity.

The lines of research are focused on various environmental topics, including subjects such as biodiversity, seabed, oceanography and nutrients, coastal governance and water resources. The seminar included a brief review of the Science Plan with a presentation by INTESAL Research Coordinator Felipe Tucca.

At the meeting, held at the Hotel Solace, the first results of the program related to the seabed were announced, in addition to presenting about the
work of various companies that are making progress in the prevention of impacts on this issue. Subsequently, regulatory aspects related to these matters were analyzed.
Among the academic participants were Professor Sandra Marín, from the Universidad Austral, who presented the “Analysis of INFAs results between April 2010 and December 2022”; and Dr. Carlos Aranda, from the University of Los Lagos, who presented the topic “Environmental evaluation of category 4 centers through the bacterium Beggiatoa spp”, in the regulatory field there was the Certes LTDA Exhibition, along with the experiences in the practical application of mitigation technologies by Kran, Keepex, Chucaotec, OZXO and DVS Technologies.

The general manager of Intesal, Esteban Ramírez, indicated that “we thank the participants in this seminar, among whom are exhibitors and companies
Associated. We are very happy with the result, because what started as a meeting for SalmonChile’s partner producers ended with an activity with more than 50 participants who are part of the great salmon farming value chain.”

In addition, he stressed that “this was a workshop that had a high level, where we were able to learn about matters that are fundamental to summarize what we know and establish the gaps that exist with respect to the seabed.

We thank the speakers, who impressed us with their presentations, achieving the objective of this first step that we set ourselves when we launched the Science Plan for Salmon Farming, last May: to contribute to the sustainability of the sector, establishing, for the seabed research line, a first baseline of knowledge regarding the impact of the activity to now proceed to articulate the research projects that help to close the gaps in the this matter.”

To conclude, the person in charge of the development and prototyping area of Keepex, Joaquín Aurtenechea, mentioned that “it is reflected in this type of activities that there is a real interest of the industry to responsibly and actively cover the issue of seabed remediation and prevention.

I believe that there are important technological and methodological advances on the part of service providers and it is a true reflection of the capacity for innovation and development of this industry, but we know that we must continue to advance and improve, in this sense I believe that it is necessary to articulate validation projects together with academia to improve the current proposals”.