Larval monitoring and mussel seeds collection workshop will be held by IFOP
July 18th, 2023
The activity will be carried out online, between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Friday, July 21rst, 2023.
This Friday, July 21rst, 2023, Fisheries Development Institute (IFOP) will hold a workshop to disseminate “Monitoring and Surveillance Program on the Larval Availability of Mutilids for the Sustainability of Aquaculture in the South Austral Zone of Chile, X Stage 2022-23” results. This program has been carried out since 2013 and is part of IFOP’s permanent monitoring programs, under Fisheries and Aquaculture Undersecretariat supervision.
This workshop will be held online through the following access LINK: https://meet.google.com/ywq-wuiu-scx
This workshop’s aim is to share X Stage of the Monitoring and Surveillance Program on the Larval Availability of Mutilids collected information. IFOP professionals associated with this program will participate, they will offer presentations focused on describing capturing mussel seeds activity from mussel farmers’s perspective. In addition, relevant aspects of mussel larvae abundance in relation to their environment will be shown, as well as capture and detachment of seeds in contrasting environments description.
At the workshop end, interactive and “Endemic Seed” public graphic platform will be presented, which contains generated Monitoring Program historical information. This platform will allow users to access and explore collected data, and will contribute to the dissemination and analysis of information related to mussels larval availability in Chilean south-austral zone.
The workshop is an opportunity for attendees to learn about the Monitoring Program results and progress and to share experiences and knowledge with other related professionals. It is also expected that this meeting will serve as a dialogue and reflection space, where gaps and challenges to be faced can be identified to guarantee mussel aquaculture sustainability in south-austral zone of Chile.
Mussel farming and seed collection
It is expected to have a broad participation of from aquaculture and scientific sector actors, as well as authorities and other interested parties in the subject. The dissemination of the results of this Monitoring Program is key to promoting transparency, knowledge exchange and decision-making based on scientific evidence in mutilid aquaculture.
Mussel farming is a very important aquaculture activity in Chile, being the leading country in mussels export worldwide. However, this activity depends to a large extent on natural environment mussel seeds capture. Historically, variations in seed uptake have been observed, which has affected the industry. Faced with this situation, Fisheries and Aquaculture Undersecretariat commissioned Fisheries Development Institute to develop a monitoring program to better understand these events andto be able to anticipate them. This program has been running since 2013 and has provided valuable information on mussel larvae availability in different regions of the country. In addition, it has made it possible to identify new potential areas for seed collection. This program is expected to continue in the future to support mussel farming industry and to ensure its sustainability. Given the lack of information necessary to understand a fundamental natural process for mussel farming sustainability, Fisheries and Aquaculture Undersecretariat of requested Fisheries Development Institute to develop a monitoring program. The objective of this program is to monitor, describe and understand natural variations in mussel larvae abundance in regions where culture is carried out and in regions where it is not carried out. The program started in 2013 and has been running continuously, providing timely information on mussel larvae availability for spat collection. It has also helped to identify potential new areas for farming activity. It is expected that this program will continue as a permanent activity to generate fundamental knowledge that contributes to the sustainability of seed collection and, therefore, to the mussel farming industry in the country.
For more information about the activity, mail to macarena.herrera@ifop.cl or cristian.segura@ifop.cl.
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