Chile’s mussel harvest: 40% drop

Chile’s Directorate of Fisheries (SERNAPESCA) figures in its latest sector report show mussel harvests have fallen 23 percent, tumbling from 22,300 tons in January 2008 to 18,000 tons this January.

Sector sources estimate the situation will worsen.

Daniel Montoya, commercial manager of Pesquera El Golfo, told IntraFish “based on the information we currently have, we estimate harvests will plummet 30 percent to 40 percent on last year.”

Patricio Leiva, president of the Association of Chilean Mussel Farmers (AMICHILE), which accounts for more than 80 percent of Chile’s mussel exports and comprises small- and mid-sized producers and industrial companies, agrees.

Montoya