Salmon neighbourhoods taking shape in Chile
Although production volumes planned for 2009 are nearly half of what they were prior to the ISA crisis, both the private and public sectors are working together (SalmonChile and Sernapesca respectively) to better organize the industry’s myriad of salmon farming concessions in an effort to control the virus. So far a total of 58 salmon neighbourhoods have been defined – 24 neighbourhoods in the Lakes Region and 34 in the AysÈn Region. Companies such Marine Harvest, AquaChile, Los Fiordos, Multiexport and Yadr·n played a key role in the organization of the various geographical neighbourhoods, determining common sea water production cycles and harvests for the participating companies within the neighbourhoods. According to Aqua.cl in last week’s meeting between SalmonChile and Sernapesca, "The idea was to get everyone within the same geographic neighbourhood to agree upon the coordination of fallow periods, to commit to a production and fallow period plan and present the plan to the authorities." The legislative side of Chile’s government however is holding up the progress of these farming neighbourhoods since their implementation requires a modification the current General Law of Fisheries and Aquaculture. In order for the farming neighbourhoods work effectively, the salmon companies within these neighbourhoods must be able to exchange, sell or rent their current farming licenses in a more bureaucratically efficient manner, which is not possible under the current law.
