2024-03-22 14:43:12
The alliance, made up of salmon companies, SAG and Sernapesca, will work to advance the implementation of new solutions to prevent bacterial diseases.
With the aim of advancing the implementation of new solutions to prevent bacterial diseases and reduce the use of antibiotics in salmon, the Yelcho Project.
To this end, a public-private alliance was born made up of 11 salmon producing companies, the Salmon Council, the Salmon Technological Institute (Intesal) of SalmonChile, Aquabench, the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG) and the National Fisheries and Fisheries Service. Aquaculture (Sernapesca).
“This is the first public-private collaboration between our industry and the two main institutions that regulate the use of drugs, whose objective is framed within the program of the World Health Organization, the Chilean State, and the salmon industry,” said the director of the Yelcho Project, David Farcas.
In this way, the Yelcho Project created a document of common agreement, which establishes six strategic pillars:
1. Participation of a public-private partnership in the context of the World Organization for Animal Health (WHO) and the National Antimicrobial Resistance Plan (RAM) in the salmon production process.
2. Significant reduction in the use of drugs, particularly antibiotics.
3. Regulatory review and new available immunological technologies.
4. Evaluate the use of boosters or immunity prolonging products/strategies.
5. Facilitate access and development of technical information that allows for faster progress to obtain new vaccines and/or immunological products.
6. Generate instances of continuous technical collaboration between authorities and the private sector. Specific work tables will be generated to address the different topics.
The national director of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Service, Soledad Tapia, pointed out that the agreement is very important to accelerate the implementation of vaccines and thus reduce the use of antibiotics.
“For us this is very important, because what we seek is precisely to reduce the use of antibiotics as much as possible and look for other alternatives such as vaccines that promote animal health and well-being and, with it, the health of the environment, which is what we “We all wait and the communities that live near the cultivation centers also wait,” Tapia said.
Meanwhile, the national director of SAG, José Guajardo, highlighted that “for us it is very relevant reduce the use of antimicrobials And for that, all the work that has to be done beforehand, such as the use of vaccines, is very timely. We are using it in different animals, in different species and obviously salmon farming is very good.”
The next steps of this alliance are ldefinition of a work meeting agenda of a Technical-Scientific Committee which will be made up of a multidisciplinary team of highly renowned scientists, such as Dr. Alexis Kalergis, health heads of the producing companies and the technical counterparts of SAG and Sernapesca.
The executive director of the Salmon Council, Loreto Seguel, highlighted that “this signing is evidence that we have managed to unite the entire industry in an unprecedented public-private alliance.
He added that “this project materializes a commitment to the continuous improvement of the standards with which we produce salmon in Chile. We are proud to sign this agreement that not only highlights the aquaculture industry, but also validates us from a scientific perspective as companies that are constantly looking for ways to neutralize impacts and firmly project the industry. With this signature we ratify our commitment and conviction for a sustainable industry from an environmental, social and economic point of view“.
What is the Yelcho project?
The Yelcho Project takes its name from the Chilean Navy cutter that more than 100 years ago managed to rescue 22 British sailors in the Antarctic Sea.
He project was born in 2023the year in which its governance was defined and the first negotiations were carried out with pharmaceutical companies worldwide to propose the need for salmon farming to advance in the development of vaccines to reduce the use of antibioticsemulating the successful experience of developing vaccines against Covid-19.
Behind this crusade are Aquachile, Australis Mar, Blumar, Camanchaca, Cermaq, Cultivos Yadran, Marine Farm, Mowi, Multi X, Salmones Austral, Ventisqueros and Aquabench (which account for almost 90% of Atlantic salmon production in Chile).
The general manager of Intesal of SalmonChile, Esteban Ramírez, declared that he was happy to be able to complete the Yelcho project, since it was an initiative that had attempts in the past.
“From the first minute we have been supporting the actions of these companies and their unions, which today allows us to sign a public-private collaboration agreement, to continue working to enable the conditions that make it possible to quickly have a new vaccine or new tools, those that we hope will allow move faster in reducing antibiotic use, without affecting the welfare of the fishsince every solution and development must always have at its center the obligation of care towards the fish we grow,” concluded Ramírez.