One hour separates the Ponsomby crossing in Río Verde from BluRiver’s Mina Elena Cultivation Center, which opened its doors to receive 21 students from the aquaculture specialty of third-year high school at Liceo María Behety.

During the tour, the young people learned about the modules that house the 16 cages and the daily activities carried out by BluRiver workers to feed and safeguard the health of the salmon.

 “I was able to complement my knowledge, because you learn things physically, so you learn better than just studying from a whiteboard”, commented Diego Oliva.

An experience that Natalia Pinto also highlighted: “It was super innovative for us as a specialty and as a class, since we are the smallest level at the moment. The company’s reception was super cool, it was super awesome to learn about the areas and it was super interesting because many of the areas here we had already seen in class, and it’s different to see them in person”, highlighted the specialty student.

The visit continued on the pontoon, where the students, in addition to seeing the bedrooms and recreational spaces that workers have, learned about the ancillary functions of this naval vessel, which allows storage and delivery of up to 400 tons of food.

“I learned more about the pontoon, because I already understood more about the centers, but about the pontoon, the rooms it had, there were more than what I had been told”, emphasized David Mercado.

Similarly, Sharol Fabres stated: “It serves our specialty very well, because we only see the theory. Here we learned to shovel, we toured the entire pontoon and it was a beautiful experience”.

A visit that was made possible thanks to the joint work of the Salmon Farmers Association of Magallanes and BluRiver company workers, who showed the young people the operations carried out in a cultivation center.

Cristian Kubota, manager of the Salmon Farmers Association, said that: “everything related to education, especially for those who are being trained to be future human capital of the industry, is very important. We believe it is fundamental that they can approach companies and learn about the activities being carried out. All efforts that the Association and companies can make to strengthen this relationship are positive”.

“For us as a team it is very gratifying to receive a group of students who come to learn what aquaculture really is, to demystify some things and to see how it is in the field”, noted the center assistant, Alberto Mayorga.

Meanwhile, BluRiver’s production submanager, Pablo Solís explained that “having them here, knowing our reality, our operation and our activity, is very good for both them and us. It makes us proud and we see that they are very happy enjoying and asking many questions, while learning and also showing people like them, who were visiting today, are working with us”.

This is the case of Victoria Jiménez, who after completing her internship in 2018, was hired for her good performance and the skills demonstrated during the learning process.

“For me it was very good to see that many more women are coming into the specialty than there were in my generation. I was able to encourage them more than anything, because as they used to say the sea was male-dominated and many women held back, for that very reason they are opening doors for them and they can make themselves known”, expressed BluRiver’s first center operator.

Now the workers at the Mina Elena center are preparing to continue strengthening the learning process of students graduating from the specialty at Liceo María Behety, who will begin their internship to complete their studies.