Chilean aquaculture companies owe around $2.4 billion (€1.3 billion) to the banks, according to Professor Bjorn Hersoug of the University of Tromso, keynote speaker at the marine farming conference Havbrukskonferansen 2009 in Oslo last month.
Hersoug said aquaculture companies also have a combined debt to suppliers of around $1 billion (€660 million).
Hersoug is collaborating with former Chilean fisheries minister Carlos Hernandez on a project that analyses the institutional facets of Chilean marine farming, where the focus is on administration and politics.
