“Los Castillo” Artisanal Fishermen Organization made its first sale of Japanese oysters from small-scale aquaculture
March 25th, 2024
On March 14th, in Chungungo town in La Higuera, Coquimbo region, Devora García, president of “Tongoy Mujeres Acuipesca Cooperative, bought part of the Japanese oyster (Crassostrea gigas) harvest, from small-scale aquaculture ( APE) of artisanal fishermen organization (OPA) Los Castillo, chaired by Flor Castillo.
Within stage VIII of “Comprehensive Aquaculture Development Program for Artisanal Fishermen and Small-Scale Aquaculturists” framework . IFOP repopulation and cultivation team sought to fulfill its objectives of developing pilot crops for Small Scale Aquaculture (SSA); and carry out dissemination and transfer actions to support the development of the APE, through technical assistance to the artisanal fishermen organization “Los Castillo”.
On January 20th, 2023, 12,000 Japanese oyster seeds of approximately 0.5 cm in length were sown (photograph below). These seeds were produced by Cultivos NANAKU of Tongoy and then transferred to Chungungo, where they were initially sown in cultivation lanterns with a 4 mm mesh opening due to the size of the seed. These lanterns were transferred to management area cultivation lines (AMERB) Chungungo B, where monitoring has been carried out in which the same members of artisanal fishermen’s organization keep track of variables, through instruments. measurement purchase.
On February 27th, 2024, a split was carried out to give the last increase in growth to oysters, in search of a buyer, fortunately due to repopulation and cultivation management team, contact was made with Devora García, she is an APE aquaculturist with more than 20 years of experience and who presides over a cooperative made up of women in Tongoy. She attended Caleta Chungungo where the artisanal fishermen’s organization was waiting for her. Devora gave a lecture on farming, transforming it into a technology transfer and an enjoyable associative activity between entrepreneurial women and presidents of organizations of artisanal fishermen with small-scale aquaculture.
The meeting, an example of associativity in small-scale aquaculture, culminated in the purchase of 2,000 oysters, a sale of oyster seed for Los Castillo and a visit to the Devora Cooperative farm was discussed, in addition, the Castillos distributed among their partners a part of their harvest, so that they could make use of them.
The researcher in charge, Msc. Denisse Torres indicated “we are happy for the end of the cultivation cycle, it was a support that was better than the first stage, female leadership was noticeable, there was more participation and empowerment of the organization of artisanal fishermen, even being awarded projects in parallel to the development of this culture, managing to demarcate its AMERB with buoys and even a boat for small-scale aquaculture.”