Erwin Sandoval Gallardo, Codesa
"Regional GDP: Aysén was the worst performing territory in the second quarter of 2024"; "GDP falls in five regions in the second quarter: Aysén again registers the worst economic performance"; "Aysén registers the worst economic performance in the country in the second quarter of the year".
These are some of the headlines that appeared in regional and national media after the latest Central Bank Report revealed, for the second consecutive period, a negative Gross Regional Domestic Product (GDP) (this time -3.6%) for the Aysén region.
And, as in the report for the first quarter of 2024, the incidence of the salmon industry in these negative economic indicators is highlighted by the Central Bank itself, stating in its analysis "the Aysén region fell 3.6%, a result that was mainly explained by the rest of goods and the manufacturing industry, highlighting the fall of the aquaculture sector...".
Thus, the evidence begins to contradict the political optimism -and deep ignorance- evidenced by the Regional Presidential Delegate Rodrigo Araya when commenting on the previous report. He then hastened to point out that "as much as when production increases and GDP increases, or when aquaculture production decreases and GDP decreases, it has to do with that greater weight that it has in our region and that we hope it will be as cyclical as it has been historically", venturing that the drop in productivity of the aquaculture industry was due to normal processes in its cultivation cycles.
As we critically exposed in a previous column, for the second consecutive quarter the evidence shows that the low productivity of the salmon industry and its impact on the regional GDP is not due to the characteristics of its productive cycles. On the contrary, it is a consequence of its illegal actions and the significant environmental impacts it causes in its areas of influence.
This is consistent with the report of the Comptroller's Office, known a few weeks ago, which reported 170 aquaculture concessions that should have been expired for non-operation, reproaching the competent authorities for their lack of diligence in the exercise of their functions. This illegal lack of operation of cultivation centers is one of the reasons that, in the end, have an impact on the low productivity of this particular economic sector. Low operation of cultivation centers in the regions is also confirmed by the recent Aquaculture Sanitary Report (2023) prepared by Sernapesca, which warns that, of the 718 aquaculture concessions constituted in the Aysén region, only 303 operated during the year 2023.
Perhaps, but only perhaps, it is a better business to have concessions granted and not operating, considering that, since the rescue of the industry after the crisis caused by the ISA Virus, such assets are allowed to be subject to substantial mortgages, mainly with international banks.
Likewise, the multiple sanctioning processes initiated by the Superintendence of the Environment for overproduction in the farming centers of various companies operating in the region have led to the presentation of multiple Compliance Programs by the offending companies which, among others, reach the level of committing to a 50% reduction in the production of the farming centers. This has been done by the salmon company Australis, in order to mitigate the severe penalties it risks for the very serious environmental infractions committed.
The latter, regarding the figures shown in the recent Aquaculture Sanitary Report, is no longer even hidden by the industry representatives themselves. Francisca Rojas, general manager of the Association of Salmon Farmers of Magallanes, acknowledged to Salmonexpert that "the drop in the operation of centers is mainly explained by the reduction in the seeding of the companies within the framework of the compliance plans, which are awaiting approval by the environmental authority". Compliance plans that, if approved and satisfactorily fulfilled, terminate (without sanction) the sanctioning procedures initiated by the Superintendency of the Environment.
We cannot but emphasize that the extreme deterioration of the ecosystems in which the salmon industry increasingly intervenes exposes their fragility to the health risks inherent to intensive farming of industrial magnitude. Faced with such an eventuality, the sector reacts with early harvests that ultimately result in lower final productivity per farm.
Faced with the evidence, the question is whether a just transition and productive diversification with a local and sustainable emphasis, as promised by this government, will move forward decisively. Or, on the contrary, a new bailout for the salmon industry will be forged - disguised as a "great pact for the development of Aysén"or "reactivation plan", as happened in 2010 after the ISA virus crisis.
We will see?
For the time being, it will be necessary to be vigilant and active in the face of the construction of the "lifeline" at the cost of the human rights of indigenous peoples, through the modification of the Lafkenche Law; of the postponement of other activities and uses of the territory with the possible granting of new spaces for aquaculture in the new Aquaculture Law, disconnected from fishing regulations; or of the sacrifice of protected areas and valuable ecosystems, if salmon farming concessions remain in force in these areas. Or, equally or even more serious, at the cost of the relaxation of environmental institutions, as is intended with the modification of the Environmental Bases Law within the framework of the Pro-Investment Agenda.
This agenda, if implemented, will not promote development. It will only be a new bailout for the Salmon State.