Family and history

The founder's story (Cristino Stange) begins in 1969 (12 years old) when he accompanied his father (Teobaldo Stange, sports fisherman) to capture trout breeders with SAG personnel and the Reloncaví Fishing and Hunting Club, in the La Poza del Lago Llanquihue area for repopulation purposes. The following year, he brought some fertilized eggs home to his Chamiza residence to check the fertilization and hatching result, which he kept in old wooden barrels using the waters from his family's property.
This continued for several years until 1978, after having studied a related degree and meeting his wife, they contacted the representatives of the first company dedicated to commercial salmon cultivation in Chile (Nichiro Chile), with whom they started building their first fish farm "Las Vertientes de Chamiza" in the same year, receiving Coho salmon eggs from the USA (Oregon state) at the end of the year. Both of them, advised by the Japanese representative (Sogoro Mushiake), raised 200,000 eggs that were to be delivered as Smolts, but in the middle of 1979 they realized that neither the water nor the space would be sufficient and sought another place to finish their mission. The chosen place was Río Correntoso and they built their second fish farm, which received the fry from Chamiza in August and transferred them to Nichiro's facilities in Punta Chincuy - Chinquihue a few months later, where they were properly smolted. This cycle was repeated annually, being a period of learning and intensive work personally done by the Stange - Lavín couple, along with Teobaldo Stange, the Japanese, practical students, and sector collaborators. The activities included expanding the fish farm several times, developing and adapting technologies, and also included breeding, spawning, fertilization and incubation of native eggs with successful final results. This cycle ends when Nichiro closes its operations in Chile in 1994. However, in 1984, with the entrepreneurial spirit of the founders, the Agroacuícola Chamiza Ltd company was formed, whose partners were Gilberto and Cristino Stange, and its objective was to advise and produce smolts for other companies entering the salmon business and demanding smolt supply, companies mainly advised in their formation and fattening stage by Fundación Chile, an institution that could not meet the smolt production demand in its Curaco de Vélez fish farm. The real manager, through his passion for trout fishing and attachment to the region and innovative interest, passed away in Dec. 1985, only knowing the beginnings of what is now this activity. This family company rapidly increased its production, which initially was 180,000 smolts to 4,000,000 in just 4 years, adding the Correntoso, Rìo Blanco (now Marine Harvest) fish farms and 2 cage centers in Lago Chapo, transforming into a Joint Stock Company (Chamiza S.A.) in 1989, with the entry of new partners (Salmo America, now part of Marine Harvest). These changes were advised by Don Emilio Rivera, experienced accountant and company director who still serves in the group.