"The new Aquaculture Law is to build a building from the fifth floor"

Last Friday, a new version of the webinar "Catching Up" took place, organized by the Aquaculture Innovation Club. This time, the topic was "New Aquaculture Law: The Essentials", which was presented by Marcelo Campos, managing partner of Acuasesorías.

During the event, the professional recalled the years he was in charge of the Aquaculture Division of the Undersecretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Subpesca).

"Except for some regulations, there were no concrete norms for aquaculture. We had to work on the concessions and authorizations regulation, environmental regulation, sanitary regulation, which took many years to be issued, and so, several other regulations. But there was a different decision from what we have currently, which was to promote aquaculture. And with the undersecretaries of the time, we were of the idea that the salmon farming industry needed to be enhanced," Campos commented.

The professional showed the organizational chart of the State, noting that Chile has 24 ministries, 39 undersecretaries, and 168 public services.

“But of all these, what deeply catches my attention is that there is no ministry specifically dedicated to aquaculture, fisheries, and land planning. Within this entire system, this entire administration, the only thing we have is a Subsecretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture, which for many years was only called Subsecretariat of Fisheries, and which later, due to the insistence of some undersecretaries and myself, we managed to have it recognized as Subsecretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture,” detailed the director of Acuasesorías.

According to what was presented, aquaculture was seen as the 'poor little brother.' “But it happened that this poor little brother grew and grew and currently has surpassed fishing and other economic activities. But it still deeply catches my attention and I wonder, where is Subpesca in the organizational chart of the Ministry of Economy, Development, and Tourism? I am left with the great feeling that it is not there, simply it is not there.”

"I call for some reflection. If we want to have an important role and be considered, being the second most relevant economic activity in the country, we should at least be mentioned somewhere," pointed out the Biologist.

For Campos, from a personal opinion, what the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism has the least is development. "There is a Fisheries Development Institute that also does not promote, there is a Production Development Corporation, Corfo, that also does not promote. Therefore, the Ministry should be called differently if we want to consider fishing and aquaculture, it should be a Ministry of Economy, Fishing, Aquaculture and Tourism."

Aquaculture Law

Referring to the new Aquaculture Law, the professional stated that what is being attempted is "to build a building." "We all know that buildings are constructed from the foundations, from the underground, but I feel that what is currently being done with this new aquaculture law is to start building from the fifth, sixth, seventh floor, and we are not worrying about the foundations. Foundations are fundamental, and in this case, those foundations are unfortunately not there. It is a law that they are trying to make very beautiful, with wonderful rooftops, but there is no substance. And I also do not foresee that the networks, the aquaculture cluster, which we need to promote, are considered."

For Campos, it is very important to analyze a concept that he has tried to coin over the last few years. "Just as we have agronomy, the engineering of agricultural production, we must necessarily have aquanomy, an engineering of aquatic production, a global vision. I am not seeing that either. It is then this similarity between aquanomy and agronomy that has to sustain, it is the base, it is the underground that we have to build before making an Aquaculture Law."

In addition to this, according to Campos, we have conceptual problems that are tremendously serious. "The community, even ourselves, talk about the salmon industry and salmon farming industry as synonyms, when they are two completely different things. What we have is a salmon farming industry. And as long as we ourselves are not aware of this, evidently we are going to be very troubled."

"Obviously aquaculture has been a tremendously important industry. Aquaculture is my passion and is very relevant. Evidently also, despite all the problems it has had, there has been collaboration in the conservation of hydrobiological species, the overexploitation of aquatic ecosystems has been avoided through parameters of economic, social, and environmental sustainability. Undoubtedly, it is also an excellent way to ensure the existence of food for a world with an increasing population and with healthy foods. On the other hand, it favors the production of raw materials, industrial, pharmaceuticals, generates jobs and evidently helps in the eradication of poverty. It causes social transformations that have been tremendously important due to decentralization, innovation and above all inclusion practices, basically incorporating women and young people into the workforce," highlighted Campos.

Taking into account the above, the professional pointed out that many questions arise. "Do we now need a new General Law of Aquaculture? Do we need to first resolve the bottlenecks and difficulties of the industry? Do we need to first change the perception that authorities and civil society have of aquaculture? Do we need new sectoral institutions? The undersecretary urges us to participate, to make a new Law of Aquaculture, but I insist, building from the fifth floor upwards."

The new General Law of Aquaculture considers eight pillars which are: access, aquaculture territorial planning, environmental (sustainable approach), health and animal welfare, research for decision-making, inspection and sanction, productive and commercial chains, and governance. "But when one looks at the proposals and investigates a little more, it is not much more than what we actually have currently. What happens with the research? What happens with the studies that have been proposed in relation to a national aquaculture policy? That is to say, once again everything that has been done is being ignored and what has been done is wrong," Campos concluded.

According to Subpesca, the strategic axes of a new General Law of Aquaculture are: decentralization, sustainability, scientific, transparency, participation, gender equity, disaster risk reduction, climate change, food security and sovereignty, precautionary, ecosystem approach, productive development, and diversification. However, in the professional's opinion, all of the aforementioned, if not done with the depth that is actually needed, will be useless. "They are Christmas tree ornaments, but there is no Christmas tree. The building's basement is not built."

This same proposal, the areas of application of the new General Law of Aquaculture mentions and recognizes that there are different realities that exist in aquaculture and that in the formulation of this law it was necessary to distinguish between what will be the general applications to the entire aquaculture sector and the specific applications by sector.

"But something extremely important is overlooked. We cannot take everything out and make two laws that are absolutely independent between fishing and aquaculture, because in one way or another they are linked. And when we look at the specific applications of the Aquaculture Law, I personally feel that this bill is proposed solely and exclusively to respond to the demands of the community and small-scale aquaculture. And by trying to favor and grow and understand why small-scale aquaculture, we are sidelining the large industry, which is the large salmon farming industry, mussel farming, algae production, which are being overlooked in an attempt to solve a problem that, in my opinion, is more of a labor reconversion," Campos stated.