The fishing company Camanchaca will expand its facility in Coronel to increase its production of fishmeal and frozen products. The company plans to invest $23 million to achieve a more efficient operation and consolidate its operations. Processing capacity will be increased from 180 tons per day to 1,000 tons per day, with the implementation of a total of 9 production lines and 8 freezing tunnels.

Cargill has opened a new shrimp feed plant in Guayaquil, Ecuador. With this plant, Cargill will produce 165,000 tons of feed per year in Ecuador, which accounts for around 20 percent of the 800,000 tons of feed that the Ecuadorian market currently demands. Cargill’s investment of approximately $65 million creates 150 new jobs and enables the creation of 500 related positions. “The plant we are opening today offers the most leading-edge technology currently available for the production of shrimp feed.”

The Pincoy Project has been recognized for its contribution to the environment at AquaSur 2018. The project was initiated by Skretting and six other partners in 2016 as a collaborative response to reduce the use of antibiotics in the Chilean salmon industry. "The project delivers a collaborative and holistic approach to combat the use of antibiotics, through an initiative that defines high standards of animal welfare and operational excellence throughout the value chain, considering selective breeding, high quality hatchery diets, smolt selection, vaccines and the implementation of best-practice protocols and monitoring throughout the production cycle, as well as the use of functional diets."

BioMar Group has increased its shrimp research capabilities with the opening of its Aquaculture Technology Center in Ecuador. The ATC is a state-of-the-art trial facility dedicated to researching the full lifecycle of shrimp. It houses multiple water recirculation systems to ensure full control of the parameters during trials, and is capable of evaluating more than 150 diets per year. “Our new research facilities will help us continue to evolve our shrimp feed range while allowing us to respond faster to market and customer needs. In BioMar, we have for many years been contributing to minimizing the environmental footprint of the industry, enhancing efficiency and strengthening the health of the fish. Now, we are ready to conduct local product test supporting our global research within raw materials, process technology, health and nutrition.”

BioMar has announced this week that they will be collaborating with shrimp farmers in Ecuador to bring a new sustainable innovative shrimp product to reality. "BioMar remains committed to sustainability and the work we started a decade ago. We can take the learnings from other species and apply them to create a truly sustainable shrimp choice for retailers and the end-consumers. We hope to initiate new projects with our customers, which can accelerate the development of high value shrimp products."