January 13, 2023
Sernapesca aims to reduce antibiotic use in Chile's salmon industry
Chile's National Fisheries Service (Sernapesca) is inviting more aquaculture companies to join a voluntary programme to encourage the optimisation and reduce antibiotic use in the salmon industry, in order to ensure the sustainability of the sector and the environment, Fish Information & Services reported.
Within the framework of the National Plan against Antimicrobial Resistance (RAM) and with a focus on "One Health" (or One-Health, as promoted by the World Organization for Animal Health, the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the United Nations Environment Program), the Antimicrobial Use Optimization Program (PROA) was established in 2020. It aims to recognise aquaculture centres that modify their programmes to optimise antibiotic use.
This voluntary, proactive certification programme goes above and beyond what is required by law and is a cutting-edge component of the aquaculture industry.
After Norway, Chile exports more salmon than any other country in the world. Constanza Silva, deputy director of Sernapesca Aquaculture, said Chile has the mission of optimising and reducing the use of antimicrobials in the industry, to protect the environment, as well as the health and well-being of fish, which are food for the world population.
Silvsa said the certification programme seeks to generate incentives to prevent the appearance and potential spread of resistant pathogens, always under the One initiative guidelines-Health, adding that Sernapesca promotes a link with sector agents to promote best practises among animal health professionals.
Sernapesca has certified 88 production cycles for a total of 10 farming companies located in the Los Lagos, Aysén, and Magallanes regions since the Antimicrobial Optimization Program went into effect. Of the 88 certified cycles, 59 (or 67% of them) did not use antibiotics during the productive cycle.
Companies that have completed the most certification production cycles to date, in descending order based on the total tonnes of certified Atlantic salmon, are Blumar SA, AquaChile SA, Multiexport Foods SA, Cermaq Chile SA, Nova Austral SA, Salmones Camanchaca SA, and Cooke Aquaculture Chile SA.
- Fish Information & Services