The aquaculture industry employs various strategies to get their inputs, such as obtaining juvenile organisms from wild populations for on-growing in controlled conditions. This type of aquaculture is known as capture-based aquaculture (CBA). The bluefin tunas are the most iconic species produced under this scheme. The Mexican aquaculture tuna production is based exclusively on the Pacific bluefin tuna (PFT), which represents 1.8% of the volume of domestic tuna production but 14% of its value. A bio-economic model of the PFT production was parameterized to understand this production strategy and to assist the decision making. The model considers the uncertainty inherent of the CBA (v. gr., seed weight, the initial number of organisms and fish stocking schedule). The model was parameterized using the production records of 47 pens located in Bajo Soledad and Puerto Escondido, Baja California, Mexico during three production cycles (2008-2009; 2009-2010; 2012-2013), as well from interviews with experts associated with the industry. The results show that the profitability of the operation is related to changes in the SST, as this affects the mortality and efficiency in food consumption. Bajo Soledad presents the best Key Performance Indicators. The adverse effects of SST can be mitigated when stocking the pens early in the season and trying to capture bigger PFT juveniles.

This study analyzes the impact that the aquaculture industry has on income distribution. More specifically, it evaluates whether installing salmon farms generates significant changes on income distribution in the remote coastal areas of the Los Lagos region in Chile between 1992 and 2002. Operating these farms in rural areas requires more highly qualified workforce. We hypothesize that this increase in skilled workforce contributes to a more unequal household income distribution in these areas. To test this, we used impact evaluation techniques. Changes in income distribution were measured using Gini, Palma, Theil, and Mean Log Deviation (MLD) indexes. We used information generated by small area estimation methods to calculate the incomes for these indexes at the required level of disaggregation. We controlled for pre-existing differences and observable characteristics in the treatment group. The results show that income inequality in areas with salmon farms rose significantly compared to areas without farms. These results are also restricted by a zone of influence, since the distance between the salmon farms and the studied areas plays an important role in the impact of the inequality. We conclude with a discussion of how the results could be driven by capital intensity, a characteristic of the salmon industry.

In this article, we identify and discuss the main problems and challenges in sustainable development faced by the salmon farming industry in Chile from a socio-economic perspective. This perspective is broad, in that it includes how the industry interacts with society and the environment, but also limited, in that it only assesses the impact on different social groups and economic agents. First, we present a brief description of the structure and socio-economic relevance of salmon farming in the country. Second, we identify and discuss the primary current issues in the sustainable development of salmon farming in Chile. Third, utilizing the previous review, we identify and discuss the challenges in developing sustainable salmon farming in Chile, including regulatory design and sectoral management, options for future expansion of the industry, responses and adjustments in the face of climate change and climatic variability, and the proper addressing and enhancing of public-private cooperation and goods governance.

The concept of social license to operate (SLO) arose in the minings context industry in the decade of the 1990s, based on the recognition of the importance of considering the concerns of society regarding the operations of this industry. The latter has been relevant for the mining firms because society conditions and restrict initiatives within this economic sector. In this sense derived from the sped-up growth of the aquaculture industry in the world, the application SLO concept can consider the concerns of the society; which can create conditions to promote the aquaculture industry. The present analysis studies the areas of opportunity for the application of the SLO concept in aquaculture in Mexico. To achieve this a historical review of the last 30 years of the aquaculture initiatives in Northwest Mexico was carried out; as this is the main fishing and aquaculture area of the country. This analysis was carried out to rescue the main concerns of society in the aquaculture context through the review of public consultations. These consultations are done when there is disagreement within the society regarding the environmental impact manifestation formalities (MIA). This procedure is mandatory for the authorization of aquaculture projects, especially those associated with coastal ecosystems and those that use natural resources considered for federal use. Using information from the news the results where complemented. The public concerns detected were characterized considering the aquaculture production (i.e., Extensive and intensive), the target species (i.e., shrimp farming, bivalve mollusks, and marine fish) and the scale and origin of the investment (e.g., community initiatives, national or foreign private initiatives). With this information, we propose future lines of work for the full application of the SLO concept in Mexican aquaculture considering its particular legal, economic, social and territorial context.