The company aims to become a reference in the evaluation of solutions against the sea lice that affect Chilean salmon, thus responding to the growing need of the industry to advance in the management and control of this relevant parasitosis.

Chile's salmon industry has, from this month of November, a new alternative of specialized integrated services, as well as advanced research and development activities, for more effective control of Caligidosis. This is the company Sealice Partners SpA, derived from the association between Caligus Chile, a company specialized in services related to Caligus rogercresseyi, and ADL Diagnostic Chile, a leading diagnostic and biotechnology centre in national aquaculture.

Sealice Partners It was created to provide technical, scientific and strategic advice that allows taking a step forward in the evaluation and monitoring of new solutions against Caligus. Its objective is to offer a high standard service, combining various techniques to provide an integrated and flexible view in response to each requirement.

The company, based in Puerto Montt, has four service areas: Advisorywhere it works together with the client to obtain scientific evidence that will help strengthen the launch of new products; Field evaluationsincluding parasitic load count, treatment audits and effectiveness review in vivo; Bioassays, with evaluations in vitro e in vivo; e R&Dcovering research, development and marketing scientific, as well as information and data analysis contributions.

The general management of Sealice Partners is in charge of María Isabel Pizarro, aquaculture engineer and commercial engineer, with more than 17 years experience in Caligus rogercresseyi. The executive has worked in institutions such as Fundación Chile, Aquagestion, Pathovet, Virbac and Caligus Chile, among others, playing a key role in development that have presented the experimental studies for product evaluation against this parasite in the country.

In Fundación Chile, for example, he advised on the implementation of the first intensive cultivation of Caligus, which allowed us to give way to trials aimed at testing a wide variety of solutions. It has also actively participated in the implementation of methodologies to analyze the behavior of the body.

In this new challenge, the company also has the experienced support of Veronica Osorio, Chief Laboratory Officer at Sealice Partners, marine biologist with more than 18 years of experience in the national aquaculture industry. His first steps were taken at the I-Mar Center of the University of Los Lagos, and then he performed for more than 15 years in Cargill Chile, where he played an important role in the assembly of various trials, always seeking the flexibility necessary to achieve reliable results.

Constant flexibility and innovation

María Isabel Pizarro highlights that Sealice Partners emerged as a need to respond effectively to one of the main health challenges of Chilean salmon farming, such as the management and control of sea lice, offering an alternative – flexible and innovative – for conducting trials and studies to support the new solutions that are emerging.

“We will put all our knowledge and experience at the disposal of the sector in order to implement the various tests with maximum rigor, but we will also be very attentive to the development of new techniques that allow us to obtain high-precision information regarding the behavior of the parasite in relation to the different treatments. In fact, we have developments that are already underway,” he says. “We hope to be a bridge so that new solutions with potential – from both large and small companies – can reach the industry, and thus open up the range of options to combat Caligidosis,” he says.

The professional also values the agreement reached with ADL, a company with a long history in the industry that has more than 25 years of work in fish health that have allowed it to have a holistic view of the evolution and the interrelations that arise between different pathogens that affect salmon, which will be very useful for this new bet around Caligus. In that regard, “Sealice Partners will not only be dedicated to to evaluate the effectiveness of the products, but also to deliver arguments of strategic value to strengthen the confidence of the producers towards the managements and new alternatives of control”, according to his words.

Patricio Bustos, General Manager of ADL Diagnostic Chile, welcomes the creation of Sealice Partners. “At ADL, we have long wanted to implement a project that could respond to the growing need of the industry to advance solutions against the parasite. But we wanted to do it right. Today, with the work we are starting with Mary Elizabeth and Veronica, we are taking the right step. We are offering a new option that brings together a lot of experience and expertise, technology of first level and a great availability to explore new tools, improving and optimizing what already exists,” he says.

He adds that, with this proposal, they hope to make a difference in the sector. “We will work hard to make Sealice Partners a national leader through a comprehensive, innovative service with a clear long-term vision.”

To contact Sealice Partners, write to mpizarro@sealicepartners.cl.