Impact of Caligus treatments on unit costs of heterogeneous salmon farms in Chile

Abstract

We measure the impact that sanitary treatments that control ectoparasite Caligus rogercresseyi abundance have on unit production costs of Salmo salar farms in Chile. We follow complete production cycles for a sample of farms between 2009 and 2015. We estimate a simultaneous salmon biomass growth and Caligus abundance model. The statistical analysis determines the effect of antiparasitic treatments, location of farms, environmental conditions and Caligus abundance on the salmon growth profile. Using outside cost information, we simulate how unit production costs vary by treatment and farm characteristics. Our results suggest that unit production costs increase on average by $1.4 US/kg with Caligus and treatments. Treatment costs are compensated by higher harvesting levels, and unit production costs are invariant to the situation without treatment. All estimated effects differ depending on farm’s environmental and spatial conditions, suggesting that the design of cost-effective intervention calls for discriminatory regulation under heterogeneous conditions.