Mapuche communities in Los Rios Region began a resistance movement in defense of its rich aquatic biodiversity, which is threatened by salmon farming industry expansion projects. The local Mapuche communities claims that the projects of Marine Harvest are directly affecting different local development projects and activities, thus violating Convention No.169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) which is Law of the Republic in Chile, that establishes mandatory measures to conduct previous consultation processes to affected native people.
In the middle of strong opposition from indigenous communities, civil organizations and local authorities, the Norwegian multinational company Marine Harvest attempts to expand its production centers of smolt in lake Ranco (“stormy waters”, in mapudungun, native language), one of the three biggest in Chile and a main tourist destination in Los Ríos region, in southern Chile.
The Norwegian company is taking advantage of a series of legal loopholes. One of them is to subdivide the application in a series of partial applications and reports, to prevent the reporting of cumulative negative impacts in the already contaminated water lake.
United in defense of people rights, regional biodiversity and local economies
As reported Mapuexpress.net, the mayor of La Unión (town), Maria Angelica Astudillo, called communities to mobilize towards the protection of fresh water in lake Ranco basin, as the only way to defend the people rights, regional biodiversity and local economies.
The authorities of the communities of Futrono, La Unión and Lake Ranco, the Private Council of Ranco Lake Basin and tourist organizations, local communities and indigenous people, have established a coalition for the defense of their territory and natural resources, denouncing that the project of Marine Harvest has been subdivided irregularly. This to introduce them as individual environmental impact assessments, instead of presenting them consolidated in a single project, meaning only one environmental impact assessment (EIA), that obliges public participation of the citizens and of different stakeholders affected.
Ranco is the third largest lake in Chile and basin of over 100 rivers from the Andes mountains, It is located in a scenario of extensive native forests, waterfalls, beaches and active volcanoes, and home of valuable native fauna and fish species. The Ranco-Futrono area has been declared by the chilean law as a Zone of National Tourist Interest (Zoit, in spanish), due to its high biological and cultural diversity.
The social organizations, community authorities, indigenous people and tourist entrepreneurs, united for the defense of lake Ranco, warned that the experiences from intensive salmon farming have shown that they are incompatible with the development of touristic activities. The ecological tourism, of small scale and free from extern agents and pollutants, is the highest value in this territory. And its inhabitants are not prepared to lose it they pointed out.
Marine Harvest Chile in bad faith after the ISA virus crisis
A situation that demonstrates the bad faith of the transnational salmon company, is the complaint of the regional administration that the two Environmental Impacts Declarations (DIAs) presented by Marine Harvest, to modify the farming centers of “Ranco I” and “Ranco II”, are based on the same technical record and geographical location as before. It is requested that Marine Harvest clarifies if the record belongs to the same cultivation center, or if they are independent projects.
After the vast ISA virus crisis that affected the salmon farming industry in 2007-2009, Marine Harvest is now returning back to “normal” the legal situation of their cultivating centers in this area of lakes by expanding their intensive production of smolt. In April 2012 the company entered two DIAs that consider the installations of two huge installations of floating cages and one plant of silage (for processing the dead fish). Both projects deteriorate the value of the landscape as well as the tourist values in the Lake Ranco-Futrono area, declared as Zone of National Tourist Interest.
Community authorities of the Lake Ranco denounced that Marine Harvest expansion project poses a risk to the health of the population because of the quantity and quality of the effluents and residues that contaminates ground, water and air. Additionally it alters the lifestyles and habits of people that live in the area, destroys anthropological, archaeological and historical sites that are landmarks of the cultural heritage to this lake basin.
In an interview with Ecoceanos News, Santiago Rosas, the mayor of the Lake Ranco community, ensured that the aquatic concession in lake Ranco was given to Marine Harvest in the beginning of the nineties – when there was no aquaculture regulations in Chile – in spite of the opposition from the community, which (in those days) organized itself and mobilized against the project.
According to mayor Rosas, the project was adopted thanks to a negotiation between former authorities and the transnational Norwegian company. Marine Harvest promised to conduct studies regarding the condition of the water in lake Ranco before beginning operations and after every year the project operates. The results should have been reported to the municipality and to the community. However, this never happened. Marine Harvest did not meet its commitments ( ) Marine Harvest has a long history of breaching agreements related to environmental regulations. Among others, it increases its production of salmons without permission and conducts the cleaning of its nets with chemicals in the same lake.
Marine Harvest and WWF
The multinational Norwegian company Marine Harvest attempts to obtain permits from the government using subterfuges to geographically expand and increase nine times its production of smolt in the lake Ranco, in southern Chile. This in spite of the campaign Lakes of Chile conducted in 2007 by Marine Harvest and boosted by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), that publicly committed not intervene southern lakes of Chile with cultivation centers of smolt because of its high environmental, sanitary and landscape impacts.
Juan Carlos Cardenas, executive director of Centro Ecoceanos recalled that in 2007 Marine Harvest Chile recognized the destructive effects of salmon farming activities in chilean lakes and publicly promised, as part of WWF propaganda campaign, to definitely abandon all lakes occupied in Chile.
“Six years later, not only it has not retired, nor comply with any of its commitments. Today Marine Harvest is manipulating the weak fisheries aquaculture national legislation, to increase nine times (600.000 kgs per year) their production of smolts in lake Ranco” denounced the veterinary. Cardenas added that the reservoir is in a situation of great vulnerability to the irrational growth and expansion of the Norwegian transnational, as it is a lake oligotrophic (low nutrient), and low primary productivity.
Mayor Rosas informed that the large social mobilization that occurred in the beginning of the nineties, opposing the operation of salmon companies in lake of Ranco, can reappear. The community has the right to protest, which it has already done in Freirina, Aysén and in Punta Arenas.
María Angélica Astudillo, mayor of the town La Unión, a community bordering/neighbouring Ranco, joined the opinions of her colleagues of Futrono and Lake Ranco, manifesting her deep opposition to the Marine Harvest project. This situation means a degradation of the environment, and it will affect the water, the biodiversity and the tourism in the area ( ). We have our lake Ranco, which gives us a valuable panorama of the whole area – of Puerto Nuevo and San Pedro. Therefore we want to save our water. I know that it is very difficult to achieve, because it means challenging a powerful multinational as Marine Harvest, mayor Astudillo pointed out.
The intendant of the Los Ríos region, Juan Andrés Varas, denounced that the environmental impact declaration (EID) presented by Marine Harvest has inconsistencies regarding the authorized amounts of maximum production in the cultivating center, set in productive cycles of 12 months.
The intendant Varas indicated that the Norwegian multinational disclosed two different amounts, 66 000 kilos of biomass annually authorized in the original technical project and 120 000 kilos of biomass in the EID of the project.
The regional administration of Los Ríos requested on behalf of Marine Harvest to clarify the amounts by presenting a comparative chart, where they indicate: The maximal annual allowed production, the historical production and the projections in lake Ranco.
The regional authority additionally demanded the Norwegian transnational to inform about the possible impacts that the increase of the production, almost nine times the authorized, would have on the aquatic biota in the area of influence of the project, and the manner of how it will protect hydrobiological resources.
Marine Harvest states that the center does not up to today possess the technical project approved, and that it in the project of regulation presented there is a reduction of the production of 60 per cent in relation to the production presented in the application.
The principal regional authority confirmed in a report that it does not exist any legal support that justifies that the center can increase its production nine times more (600 000 kilos requested). This is not in line with the maximum amount of the historic production they gave in the EID (1 471 978 kgs in 2008), which means an increase twenty-two times the biomass authorized in the original technical project (of 66 000 kilos).
The intendant Varas denounced that the information given by Marine Harvest clearly contradicts the amounts of production they refer to the one presented in the EID, the maximum amounts of authorized production, and to the historical maximum amount that the center has recorded.
In addition, the intendant Juan Andrés Varas demanded Marine Harvest to present evidence that proves the legality of the transfer of the property of the salmon company Eicosal Ltda. to Marine Harvest Chile. This due to the fact that the authorization and original project of the cultivation of smolt in lake Ranco was authorized to Eicosal Ltda., and not to Marine Harvest Chile.
The organized opposition against Marine Harvest project is increasing and currently there is a demand to implement a civil consultation process in the territory. This would mark a milestone at the imposition of polluting industrial projects.
DIRECCIÓN DE ECOCEANOS