By José Ocares, Operations Manager of Fishing

The development of fishing activity in our country has evolved toward a high-standard requirement where there is no room for improvisation. In Chile, industrial fishing is formally defined as any extractive activity carried out by vessels with a length overall (LOA) exceeding 18 meters. These ships are specially designed and equipped with high-tech fishing systems that allow for large-scale capture, responding to the supply needs of a modern food industry.

A fundamental aspect of this activity is its geographic and operational delimitation. The industrial fishing fleet carries out its operations in jurisdictional waters strictly outside the first 5 nautical miles—measured from the coastline or the baseline of the national maritime territory’s internal waters. Far from the myths that often surround this sector, current reality shows that it is a highly regulated economic activity, operating under a strict approach that combines productive efficiency with a commitment to ocean sustainability.

Onboard technology for sustainable fishing

The fundamental pillar supporting this sustainable approach lies in constant investment and incorporation of cutting-edge technology directly into the fleet. Current industrial vessels are fully equipped to navigate offshore and locate fish shoals with a high level of precision. This is possible because the ships are equipped with state-of-the-art tools, such as advanced echosounders and sonars.

These technological instruments fulfill a critical function in daily operations:

• Real-time scanning: They allow captains and their crews to perform a constant, detailed scan beneath the surface to detect the presence of shoals in real time.
• Target species visualization: They make the exact location of target fish shoals visible, thereby avoiding the capture of unwanted species or incidental catch (bycatch).
• Selectivity: They facilitate a better approach to fish shoals that possess the specific size characteristics of the target species.

Through this technological deployment, crews can search for the location of the target catch in a directed manner. In the case of Blumar, this effort focuses on jack mackerel (jurel), a strategic resource that currently holds international certification from the MSC (Marine Stewardship Council), which validates globally that it is a sustainable fishery.

Onboard technology serves to optimize catches and significantly reduce impacts on the marine environment. For example, high-tech nets are used to ensure safe operations that minimize incidental catches. Thanks to the combination of precision sonars and echosounders with the safety of modern net systems, current operations manage to minimize accompanying fauna.

Scientific rigor for resource recovery

All this technical infrastructure responds directly to an ecosystem-based view of fishing activity, where science acts as the regulatory guide. Incorporating scientific rigor has been the key factor enabling the recovery of many fishing resources along the Chilean coast.

One of the fundamental pillars supporting this model is the work of scientific observers on board—professionals responsible for gathering technical and biological data at the exact time and place where catches occur at sea. Another key element is the work of the SPRFMO (South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation or ORP-PS), which, based on scientific information provided by each country, has set annual catch quotas under a precautionary approach for the resource over the past 10 years.

The ultimate objective of this model is to establish evidence-based limits to ensure the conservation of species.

This science-based management has produced significant results. The best example of this progress is the case of jack mackerel: thanks to these conservation measures and compliance with quotas, over the last 10 years this fishery managed to recover remarkably, moving from the “overexploited” category to being formally classified as “fully exploited.” This considerable improvement in the health of the resource has allowed the catch quota assigned to Chile to grow by around 15% year-over-year in recent years, demonstrating the effectiveness of science-based administration.

Cutting-edge processing on land

The industrial fishing cycle is completed on land once the ships return to port. Upon docking at the wharves, the raw material—sustainably harvested from the ocean and chilled on the ship to 0 °C—is transferred to the company’s processing facilities.

These plants feature technology specially designed for receiving and processing marine resources, maintaining the nutritional properties of the resource throughout the entire production chain. This installed technological capacity ensures an efficient and optimal utilization of the raw material for direct human consumption. By automating and modernizing processing on land, it guarantees that the sustainability efforts made at sea translate into high-quality food.