Biography

People are usually amused when I tell them my first degree is Doctor in Veterinary Medicine.  They wonder how I got here, to the Fisheries Centre. 

The story is simple, in Chile aquaculture is such an important part of our economy that there is a special branch in vet school where you can become a specialist in salmon farming diseases and production.  Overwhelmed by such waste of resources, ( i.e. growing fish which are fed more fish in order for consumers to get a pink fish instead of a white one in their plates) I became interested in fisheries, and how the so called blue revolution could save the world from famine. I later found out that aquaculture practices are completely unsustainable in time!

I found here in the Fisheries Centre an amazing faculty which dealt with all sorts of fisheries problems, from economics to modeling to conservation.  I became a volunteer student, studied economics for a year and  later I started my MSc with Rashid Sumaila.  I began to understand the big picture, the importance on consumers in this intricate value chain and with the help of my supervisor we began to figure out what are the revenues generated by wild seafood consumption globally.