Shake up for licencing system
Christian Pérez The Head of the Aquaculture Division in Subpesca, Eugenio Zamorano, explained to Fishfarmingexpert that they will present a bill that aims to extend the existing moratorium on new salmon licences in the regions of Los Lagos and Aysen, from 8 April next year until April 8th 2020. "This project was presented last week before the National Commission of Aquaculture and was approved unanimously. Therefore, the next step is to pass it to the Congress for processing and enactment before April 8," Zamorano explained.
A previous bid to encourage relocation from unsuitable sites, which was launched in 2010, has failed to gain any headway an the Chilean industry and authorities alike are keen to learn from the mistakes made last time.
"Our priority is to advance the relocation process through the model included in the Sanitary Regulation, where Subpesca has the capability to propose a zoning-territorial arrangement in the different neighborhoods, to avoid the effect it had when the relocation process was not coordinated and did not make any progress," observed Zamorano.
He stressed that Subpesca has stepped up meetings with various production companies towards achieving that objective. "We have completed this process in about 20 neighborhoods already," he said.
One aspect that changes when relocating an aquaculture licence is the length of its validity, as new aquaculture concessions are granted for 25 years, while previously they were granted in perpetuity.
"When they relocate, the holder renounces the previous licence in favor of a new one and licences granted under the old regime that have been relocated will now only be valid for 25 years," Zamorano explained. It is, however, up to the companies to choose whether they keep a poor location or improve their concessions via the relocation process. "This is what we hope they do, as it will lead to a better sanitary and environmental performance...and we have seen that most of the companies are willing to move in this direction," he said.
