Argentina's National Aquaculture Conference Held in Chubut: 2025 Output 15,540 tonnes, Rainbow Trout 87.4%

On November 6, Argentina's National Aquaculture Conference was held at the Lobo Orensanz Auditorium of CONICET-CENPAT, organized jointly by the Chubut provincial government, the Argentine Fisheries System Observatory (OSPA) and the Argentine Patagonian Fisheries Industry Chamber (CAPIP), with researchers, business figures and government officials in attendance.

In the opening session, Mariela Marani, who heads the research center, noted that environmental data are needed to determine where and under what conditions to farm. The expectations of the production sector and local governments were also presented at the meeting: CAPIP President Agustín de la Fuente called for an institutional framework that grows alongside the industry; Guillermo Defossé, head of Chubut's science and technology department, stressed cooperation among institutions and the benefits for communities; Mirko Schiavi of the provincial production department linked aquaculture to regional economic diversification and employment; and Gustavo Sastre, mayor of Puerto Madryn, mentioned local scientific and business capabilities.

The projects presented at the meeting are at different stages, including progress in farming yellowtail (pez limón), mussels and wakame, as well as research on probiotics, microalgae and biotechnology; the production panel brought experience in rainbow trout farming and other entrepreneurial projects. The conference materials note that between laboratory trials and a product stably reaching the market lie approvals, investment, infrastructure and trained personnel. In the public policy roundtable, representatives of Chubut, Neuquén and Río Negro provinces and INIDEP exchanged management experience, and the meeting concluded that federal-level policy needs to set priorities by region and by value chain.

The global context is what gives this discussion its weight. According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) data, aquatic animal farming reached 103 million tonnes in 2024, accounting for 53% of its total production and surpassing capture fisheries; including algae, aquaculture output was 141 million tonnes. The conference materials also note that growth in aquatic foods increasingly depends on farming capacity, while capture volumes remain relatively stable.

Argentina's official 2025 production report provides the latest assessment: output of about 15,540 tonnes, up 27.6% from the previous year. This expansion comes with high concentration—rainbow trout account for 87.4% of output and pacu for 10.3%; marine aquaculture accounts for only 1.52%, at 204.2 tonnes of mussels and 32.1 tonnes of oysters. The conference materials hold that the growth of Patagonian rainbow trout shows Argentina has the capacity to develop an aquaculture value chain, while marine farming requires specific capabilities: each species needs suitable seed or juveniles, technology, sanitary conditions and buyers, and the suitability of coastal sites must be assessed individually for each farmed species.

On the technical path, the conference cited the experience of countries such as Chile, noting that they can provide technology, suppliers and experience, and also showing that expansion requires supporting public capacity to manage sanitary and environmental risks; importing this knowledge can avoid detours, provided its applicability under domestic environmental and economic conditions is assessed. The conference proposed that Argentina set priorities by region and value chain: mussels can leverage links with maritime transport and fish processing, but development requires seed, sanitary controlled areas and harvesting logistics; pacu has a different regional positioning; high-value marine fish require validated costs and supply before large-scale output is planned; algae offer possibilities in food and biotechnology, and their feasibility likewise depends on specific demand. Land-based recirculating systems can control farming variables and reduce certain interactions with the environment, but require investment, energy and specialized operation; technology choices should come from comparing the costs, risks and results of each project, and no technology by itself guarantees profitability.

The path from research to producers was illustrated at the meeting with the example of yellowtail. INIDEP's marine aquaculture program has established breeding, larval rearing and fattening capabilities, advanced transfer agreements with the private sector, and in April 2026 published new results in larval production, forming a scientific platform on which a larger-scale production stage can be built. The meeting also noted that this progress requires continuity: once a species is reproduced, sustaining a business still requires regular batches of seed, control of mortality, guaranteed feed and energy, mastery of cost per kilogram and sales with predictable quality; pilot plants and transfer agreements should help cover this distance. Science policy thus has a concrete production function here—maintaining teams, facilities and work plans accumulates knowledge and reduces investor uncertainty, and it also requires training technicians and operators, accompanying project start-ups, and recording results so that systems can be corrected and improved.

On institutions and financing, Argentina already has regulatory precedents, including Law No. 27,231 and the National Registry of Aquaculture Sites. The meeting held that discussion should focus on which tools are operating, what resources they have and how they are coordinated; a project may have favorable biological conditions yet stall because of unconnected procedures. The meeting called for federal coordination to streamline requirements, responsibilities and deadlines while respecting the authority of each competent agency, so that producers know from the outset which permits are needed and what information must be submitted, with this predictability covering site access, environmental assessment and sanitary requirements. Financing arrangements should also recognize the time cycles of farming: a loan requiring principal repayment before the first harvest can make a technically feasible project unviable; appropriate grace periods, guarantees and support for the validation stage are needed, with verifiable milestones and investor responsibility, and public funds should prioritize services and infrastructure that benefit multiple producers. Laboratories, environmental information, cold chains and processing facilities can lower entry barriers when demand is sufficient and management is sound; cultivating domestic suppliers can also broaden aquaculture's economic reach by generating demand for feed, equipment, maintenance and specialized services.

The conference placed sustainability within initial decisions: before expanding production, it is necessary to understand how much farming an environment can carry, how water flows and what other uses exist; in Patagonian gulfs, artisanal fisheries, shipping, tourism and conservation should all be included in planning. The social dimension should likewise be part of planning, and dialogue with communities and other sectors sharing the space helps identify concerns, prevent conflicts and create favorable conditions for new projects; clearly explaining a project's characteristics, possible impacts and its economic and social benefits can strengthen trust and promote its integration with existing activities.

At the time of the conference, import and export statistics for August 2026 from the General Administration of Customs of China showed that imports of warm-water shrimp from Argentina (penaeid shrimp, under customs commodity classification HS 0306.17) that month totaled 340.606 tonnes, with an import value of USD 2,743,972.0 and an average price of USD 8,056.15 per tonne.