Chile’s salmon-farming industry, a major driver of the economy, has lashed out at new rules restricting its operation in protected areas, but environmental groups say the change is necessary, given the industry’s history of environmental violations. The new rules are laid out in a memorandum issued in October by Chile’s Ministry of the Environment, as a derivative of a new law creating the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Service (SBAP). According to the memorandum, salmon-farming concessions can still be granted across three types of protected areas: national parks, multiple-use conservation areas, and Indigenous reserves. However, protected areas with a salmon concession must have a management plan, which includes scientific data about the area, the barriers to sustainable development, and a series of required management practices. The salmon industry accounts for 2% of Chile’s GDP. Image courtesy of the Magallanes Salmon Farmers Association. Salmon projects must also obtain a favorable report from the SBAP, and their activities must comply with protecting the area’s biodiversity in line with its management plan. In its memorandum, the Ministry of the Environment also said salmon projects in protected areas without management plants are on hold. This has alarmed the salmon industry; there are currently 71 applications in process for salmon-farming concessions in protected areas, according to data from the Ministry of the Environment. Most of these concessions are within Las Guaitecas National Reserve and Kawésqar National Park, neither of which has a management plan. Tensions are high not just between the government and the salmon industry.…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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