Latin American Summit for Fisheries and Aquaculture starts 12 October

The Latin American Summit for Fisheries and Aquaculture Sustainability will take place 12 to 14 October in Puerto Varas, Chile. The summit is organized by the Mexican Council for the Promotion of Fishery and Aquaculture Products (COMEPESCA) and the National Fisheries Society of Chile (SONAPESCA), the country’s largest fishing guild.

This program for this year’s event will focus on the importance of sustainability, innovation, and food security in Latin America’s fisheries and aquaculture industries. By bringing together experts in the field to share experiences, information and action plans, and future commitments, the summit organizers hope to grow and consolidate the sustainable seafood movement in Latin America.

The program includes a mix of speakers from the seafood industry and civil society including Comunidad y Biodiversidad (COBI) Director María José Espinosa; Aker BioMarine Latin America Director Valentina Tapia; Lula Martín del Campo, Ambassador of the women's collective Pesca Con Futuro and chef at Cascabel Restaurant in Mexico City, Mexico; Antonio Garza de Yta, an aquaculture consultant for the Sultanate of Oman and president of Aquaculture Without Frontiers; Gestión Social President Juan Pedro Pinochet; Corporación Para la Promoción del Consumo de Productos del Mar (ProPescado) Executive Director Paulo Rojas; andOrca Seafoods Managing Director Mauricio Orellana.

"The summit is the ideal space to bring together the fishing and aquaculture sectors, certification bodies, NGOs, governments, and other actors related to this activity in Latin America to form alliances and promote fair and equitable development towards sustainability,” Pesca con Futuro President Citlali Gómez said. “This is an opportunity to join forces and practice fishing with a future that will maintain health of the species, balance in aquatic populations and ensure the availability of products from the sea and inland waters for future generations.”

Previous editions of the summit took place in Mexico in 2019 and Peru in 2020. This year’s event will bring together a similar mix of small-scale fishermen, industrialists, fish farmers and aquaculture food producers, government representatives, international fisheries management organizations, and representatives of supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, and civil society organizations.

“For several years, we have been working on a sustainable agenda for the development of fishing and aquaculture, not only in Chile but also in Latin America,” SONAPESCA President Osciel Velásquez said. “It is important to show all the attending delegations, the authorities and civil society all the work we are developing with new Chilean fishing techniques, which are more sustainable, technological and nutritious.”