内容摘要：When the first firefighters arrived, a ground floor room at the hospital was already ablaze and the fire was threatening to spread to the room above.

When the first firefighters arrived, a ground floor room at the hospital was already ablaze and the fire was threatening to spread to the room above.

Some 86,000 people now work directly or indirectly for Chile's farmed salmon industry, according to trade body Salmón Chile. The farms stretch from the Biobío region, which is around 500km south of Santiago, right down to the Magallanes region in the far Patagonian south of the country, and more than 2,000km away from the capital.With global demand for farmed salmon due to

by 2033, according to one report, Chilean producers are keen to increase their production. However, it actually fell slightly last year.Salmón Chile's chairman, Arturo Clements, says the government needs to do more to help the industry expand."For us it's been very difficult to grow, because we have too many regulations, and we have too many conflicts regarding the use of the sea," he says. "What we need is to define a long-term strategy regarding salmon farming."

Much of the conflict concerns the locations of many of the fish farms, which critics say are highly polluting.More specifically, there are 408 salmon farming concessions – licenses granted by the government that allow a company to operate a salmon farm in a specific area – within supposedly environmentally protected areas in Chile.

These include 294 in national reserves, where limited commercial use of natural resources

And 29 in the more strictly controlled national parks, where business operations are officially not supposed to be permitted.In 2024 as a whole, Chile exported 782,076 tonnes of salmon and trout, according to the latest annual figures from the Chile's National Customs Service. The vast majority of this is salmon, but the two fish are counted together in the official data.

This was worth $6.4bn (£4.8bn), making it Chile's third-biggest export after copper in first place and fresh fruit. It also means that Chile's salmon exports are only surpassed by Norway's.Some 86,000 people now work directly or indirectly for Chile's farmed salmon industry, according to trade body Salmón Chile. The farms stretch from the Biobío region, which is around 500km south of Santiago, right down to the Magallanes region in the far Patagonian south of the country, and more than 2,000km away from the capital.

With global demand for farmed salmon due toby 2033, according to one report, Chilean producers are keen to increase their production. However, it actually fell slightly last year.