By: Victoria Dannemann
(Read news in DW)
They do not want a repetition of the episodes of pollution, harmful algal blooms and massive fish kills that are damaging the environment and the image of Patagonia. More than 40 Chilean and international social and environmental organizations are demanding greater regulation and a law to remove aquaculture concessions from protected areas. "The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has emphasized that, in marine protected areas, impact activities, such as salmon farming, are incompatible with the conservation objectives for which the area was created and should not exist within them," Maximiliano Bello, executive advisor for Ocean Public Policy at the organization Mission Blue, told DW.
The reality in Chilean Patagonia is different: "Of around 1,500 salmon farming concessions, 415 are granted inside protected areas, although not all of them are operational," said Juan Carlos Viveros, of the organization Defend Chiloé, in a conversation with DW.
For biologist Flavia Liberona, "it is incompatible" that the State grants and allows aquaculture concessions to be maintained in areas destined for conservation. The executive director of FundaciónTerram tells DW that, according to Chilean regulations, salmon farming concessions within or adjacent to a protected area should be evaluated with an environmental impact study and should not be in national parks. However, "there are some in national parks and other categories of protected areas without this requirement. The legislation is very lax and is not even complied with," he says. As an example, he explains that in order to have productive activities, all reserves should have a management plan established by the State, but "the Guaitecas National Reserve is full of salmon farming concessions, even though it does not have a management plan. They should never have been able to establish themselves there.
Overlapping objectives
Esteban Ramírez, general manager of the Chilean Salmon Technological Institute (Intesal), a technical body of the Salmon Chile trade association, which brings together 60% of the national production with ten salmon producers and represents more than 50 supplier companies, tells DW that of the 400 concessions located in reserves, most are in the area of the Guaitecas Cypress Reserve, Aysén region.
In his opinion, in this case "the object of conservation does not present incompatibilities with salmon farming. This reserve was created in the 1940s, when the regulation of the maritime area was ambiguous. Ramírez points out that the overlap between protected and aquaculture areas occurred because the latter were established in the 1980s, when there were no national parks or marine reserves in areas with aquaculture concessions. When the reserves were declared, "they did not incorporate bodies of water or their object of protection did not present any incompatibility," observes the Intesal representative.
Explosive growth of the industry
Environmental experts also point to the pressure on ecosystems imposed by the accelerated growth of salmon farming. In four decades, Chile has become the world's second largest producer, after Norway. "According to official data, between 1990 and 2020 the production of this industry grew by 3600%. It is more than 117% on average per year, which implies a great environmental impact. There are red tides, the use of antibiotics and chemicals, landfills, leaks, and these are introduced species," says Flavia Liberona. "Despite the fact that Chiloé is the epicenter of Chilean salmon farming, it is one of the poorest regions in the country. The industry has been depredating our fjords and canals for almost 40 years, which are an ecosystem of the highest value for the planet's biodiversity, very sensitive to climate change, and the gateway to the marine regions of Patagonia," laments Viveros.
In Bello's opinion, although salmon farming is a source of employment, "we must weigh the cost of maintaining and subsidizing a highly dirty industry, which does not respect regulations that were tailor-made for it, benefits from laws, subsidies and grants that allow it to reduce costs and uses the patrimony of all Chileans as its main capital".
Regulation in protected areas
Is it feasible to legislate to remove salmon farming from protected areas? Not only feasible, but extremely necessary. Salmon farming has proven to have a high impact on ecosystems and is not compatible with conservation objectives in one of the most vulnerable areas of the planet, such as Patagonia. The industry should begin to withdraw voluntarily, starting with marine protected areas," says Bello.
From Intel-Salmon Chile, Ramírez assures that salmon production is possible as long as it does not affect the object of protection. "If there is incompatibility, this would result in a very strict environmental evaluation," he says, and maintains that, due to current regulations, the granting of new concessions is closed.
Environmentalists claim that, although they are not increasing in number, the industry has expanded its production centers, which would explain its growth. "We need to ensure that production does not continue to grow at the same rate, that the protected areas are really protected, that there is more demanding legislation and a real capacity for control," says Liberona. As a model is the case of the province of Tierra del Fuego, in Argentina, which pioneered a ban on salmon farming in its waters. "The protection and care of these ecosystems is the best investment that Chile can make. Patagonia's vocation has to do with conservation and not with the exploitation of salmon," emphasizes Bello.