“Customers, jobs and fish will be lost if the conflict is not solved now”

How long you can maintain facilities and employees without work? That is the rhetorical question expressed by Ricardo Garcia to evaluate the effects of blockades in the salmon industry on Chiloé. According to El Mercurio, the answer is daunting: “not much, and even less after a very weak last year.” Today, the industry is operating at a low capacity, a scenario that threatens the production chain. In fact, the executive said that “if this situation is not resolved now, there will be loss of customers and fish and, consequently, losses of jobs.”

Loss of confidence

Camanchaca sells salmon to over 200 customers in the United States, such as supermarket chains and restaurants, agreeing to supply with frequencies usually ranging from two to three times per week.

Garcia said that currently his company cannot meet those commitments. For the customers –he said, these problems do not represent valid excuses and what this produces is a significant loss of confidence about the local industry, which generates buyers to change supplier. “The Europeans (farmers) are rubbing their hands over our misfortunes,” he regretted.

The current situation is having a “severe” impact on the reputation of Chile, he said. “Foreigners cannot explain how a member country of the OECD, which is presented to the world by saying that it is good place to do business and a reliable partner, now does not deliver what it promises,” Garcia said.

Meanwhile, he ruled out any link between the disposal of salmon mortalities due to the recent algae blooms and the current red tide. “Those who were forced to spill salmon mortalities at sea, suffered themselves a previous catastrophe, precisely because of the presence of algae, and now they are being accused of causing the very same thing that killed salmon,” he concluded.