The National Fisheries Institute’s Salmon Council introduced fish farming giant AquaChile as its newest member on 29 March, 2017. The prominent aquaculture company joins other major industry players, including Marine Harvest, Trident Seafoods and Bumble Bee Seafoods, in promoting the many health benefits associated with consuming salmon.
With operations in Chile, Costa Rica and the United States, AquaChile has become a prolific producer of Atlantic and Pacific salmon, sea trout and tilapia, shipping its products across five continents to more than 30 countries. The company, which was founded in 1988 and has grown to employ some 5,000 workers, has certifications for its operations from BAP, IFS, HACCP and GlobalG.A.P., according to General Manager Vicente de la Cruz.
“AquaChile oversees every step of production from egg to harvest with meticulous quality,” de la Cruz said. “In joining the Salmon Council, AquaChile turns our focus to the last step of the process, the marketing and sale of salmon.”
The four-year-old NFI Salmon Council has undergone rapid expansion over its lifetime and now encompasses enterprises at all levels of the salmon supply chain and even beyond it to associate members who provide services to the salmon industry. Currently, 13 full members and six associate members participate in the collective, representing wild-caught, farmed, domestic and imported salmon products as well as essential service providers to the salmon industry.
The council’s continued expansion will be crucial to increasing salmon consumption worldwide, said Salmon Council Chairman Gianfranco Nattero.
"Salmon is a global fishery,” Nattero said in a prepared statement. “Producers in Chile, Canada and all other salmon producing countries, together with processors in the U.S.A. and fishermen from Alaska are equally responsible for promoting the versatility, healthy and nutritious qualities of salmon. The more perspectives we have informing the council’s work the more successfully we tell salmon’s story to consumers.”
As a first-year council member, AquaChile will receive full benefits at a discounted rate of USD 5,000 (EUR 4,648).
The NFI Salmon Council members include: Agrosuper, AquaChile, Bluemar USA, Bumble Bee Seafoods, Icicle Seafoods, King & Prince Seafood Corporation, Marine Harvest USA, Morey's Seafood International, Norwegian Seafood Council, Salmon Chile, Slade Gorton & Company, Trapananda Seafarms and Trident Seafood Corporation.
The NFI Salmon Council associate members are: C.H. Robinson, Commodity Forwarders Inc., Integra Chile S.A., Marel, Miami International Transit and Northwest Farm Credit Services.
