The Chilean mussel fishery and suspended culture has become the first Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified fishery in Chile.
The fishery - located in Region X of ‘Los Lagos de Chile’ in the South East Pacific Ocean in FAO Statistical area 87 - is an enhanced fishery, and seed mussels are harvested by suspended substrates. Seed mussel collection takes place in the area of Reloncaví, Puerto Montt and grow-out operations are conducted in the Province of Chiloé. Wild caught seed from the coastal sea of Chile within Region X are used.
The Chilean mussel fishery relies upon mussel seed collection from the wild environment which is native to the concerned area, and the assessment found that habitat modifications are reversible and do not cause serious or irreversible harm to the natural ecosystem’s structure and function.
While there is no Total Allowable Catch (TAC) currently established, the catch was 12,000 metric tons in 2011 and 11,000 metric tons in 2012. Mussels from this fishery are harvested mainly between October and July.
Sergio Leiro Oubiña, CEO of the client group Toralla S.A. and Cultivos S.A. Toralla, says, “It is an immense satisfaction having achieved MSC certification for the mussels produced in our processing plant and own cultivation sites. We have become pioneers, because we are the first Chilean company to obtain this certification, demonstrating our commitment and preoccupation to do things well, caring for our ecosystem and nature."
