30 Jan Secos and AmiChile renew their partnership

Preparing for environmental changes and advancing toward sustainability in mussel farming are part of the objectives of a scientific collaboration agreement that aims to contribute solutions to key issues in the country’s second most important aquaculture activity.

The meeting that renewed the collaborative efforts between the industry association, the Millennium Institute for Coastal Socio-Ecology (SECOS), and the Mussel Farming Technology Institute (Intemit) was held at the offices of the Chilean Mussel Farmers Association (AmiChile) in Castro. The meeting brought together Rodrigo Carrasco, the new Executive Director of AmiChile; Camila Barría, Head of Research and Development at Intemit; Stefan Gelcich, Director of SECOS and professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile; and Cristian Vargas, SECOS researcher and professor at the University of Concepción. “AmiChile, through the Mussel Farming Technology Institute (Intemit), has a coordinated and agreed-upon agenda with researchers and SECOS to plan for the next five years, addressing the industry’s needs in terms of seed, production challenges in farming, and climate variability, which is increasingly demanding. We have had various collaborations, and we plan to continue advancing along that path,” said Rodrigo Carrasco following the meeting. For Cristian Vargas, also director of the Coastal Ecosystems and Global Change Laboratory (EccaLab) at the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, University of Concepción (UdeC), “This meeting allowed us to reaffirm the collaborations between SECOS, AmiChile, and Intemit, where we presented our research focuses on ocean acidification, seed plasticity and quality in mussels, pollution, waste reuse, environmental monitoring in Hualaihué, among others, with the goal of generating joint research efforts in these and other relevant areas.” “We also added a very important topic regarding seed fall, environmental variability, and tolerance to extreme events, which we are currently studying at SECOS and where we can create synergies with producers,” added Vargas. For her part, Camila Barría highlighted the importance of collaborating with researchers in order to continue advancing scientific topics related to the mussel farming industry in Chile. “This is why maintaining a close relationship and dialogue with the SECOS Institute — which has historically worked with our key species (Mytilus chilensis) — is essential for continuing the study of the species, especially regarding adaptation to climate change. Finally, as a result of this meeting, we agreed to renew the existing collaboration agreement between Intemit and SECOS,” stated Barría. Lastly, SECOS director Stefan Gelcich noted, “Partnerships between academia and industry are key, because only by integrating the knowledge of these different actors can we move toward more sustainable aquaculture industries in Chile. The meeting was a success, and today we have several areas of joint work for the future”.