Reinaldo Caro unloads its shore of the shore of the Almirante Montt Gulf, Chilean Patagonia.
John Bartlett for NPR
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John Bartlett for NPR
Puerto Natales, Chile – Beyond the Isla focus, a bare island in the fjords at an hour off the coasts of Natales Puerto, in southern Chile, the waves pick up and the Calipso rock from one side to the other.
Reinaldo Caro is the basantic captain of the tiny fishing vessel, and he spotted something in the middle of the woods of the virgin Patagonia above the shore: a single white bark tree.
“There!” He suddenly exclaims, his thick eyebrows rising while his face softens with a large smile. “This is where I was born.”
“And then It is To which I am fighting, “he said, drawing a path along the hill with a finger, staring at a pontoon floating directly under his birthplace.
It belongs to one of the many salmon farms that dot the fjords, although surface, there is not much to see. A control room is next to several floating walkways.
The salmon cultivation industry operates along large coastlines in Chile, the center of the country and Patagonia.
And Caro, 78, wins the effect she had on her ancestral house.
He is one of Kawésqar’s last fishermen navigating on these fjords, one of the seminomodic indigenous peoples that sailed in the canals for millennia in carved wooden canoes.
Today, there are less than 1,000 kawesqar.
“There are a lot of these farms,” said Caro on the throb of the Calipso diesel engine.
Reinaldo Caro examines the coast of the Gulf of Almirante Montt from the Calipso cabin on its way through the fjords to the Kirke Canal.
John Bartlett for NPR
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John Bartlett for NPR
With each passing pontoon, he lowers the name of the company that exploits it, then the nickname he has for each small bay closest to the farm.
In some, he said, Kawésqar reduced the trees to make their boats. In others, the heaps of cormorants gather on the black sandy beaches and the sea lions bother rocks.
“In addition, it is beautiful and virgin, like a mirror, but there, it’s another story,” explains Caro. “Contamination is on the seabed – it comes from the excrement and drugs they give them.”
“Perhaps 30 or 35 years ago, this place was completely virgin. Now we are up to our neck,” he said bitterly.
In 2024, the United States, Japan and Brazil were the main markets of Chilean salmon, and more than half of the salmon available in American supermarkets from Chile.
After copper, the backbone of the Chilean economy representing more than half of the gross domestic product, salmon products are, although distance from the country.
Last year, $ 6.3 billion in salmon was sent abroad, according to the Chilean Salmon Council. A quarter of the world salmon is cultivated in Chile. Only Norway exports more.
However, fish are not from these waters, and fishermen like Caro say they damage Chilean ecosystems.
“I think it is important to talk about the vulneration of these ecosystems to change,” said Marine Biologist Claudio Carocca, who wrote a lot about the effects of the salmon industry.
“In this case, the changes affected by human activity range from the installation of pontoons with their steel, plastic, strings and lights; to the species of non-native fish introduced, and the chemicals and the foods injected to help them grow,” he said.
The Chilean Salmon Council, which represents the largest salmon companies in the country, refused the request for NPR comments on issues raised by the local community. The advice The website says Salmon cultivation has the potential to provide “a healthy and lasting source of protein” for global demand for quality food. “We believe that this can be done in a responsible manner, taking care of the environment and ensuring the highest environmental, social and animal protection standards,” he said. The website also indicates that the industry has worked for Reduce antimicrobial use.
Conditions in Chile are considered ideal for salmon farming, with the first attempts to introduce salmon dating from the 19th century.
In 1969, an agreement between Japan and the national fishing agency of Chile saw the Pacific salmon presented officially, bringing the Dutch and Japanese companies to the country.
The national fishing service was then formed in 1976 under the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, and the production skyrocketed from the mid -80s.
A salmon generally reaches its size and commercial weight at 4 years old, but in a farm, this is cut at 10 to 14 months.
Leticia Caro, Reinaldo’s daughter, stands outside the rear cabin of the Calipso.
John Bartlett for NPR
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Reinaldo Caro’s daughter, Leticia Caro, grew up by sailing on these fjords with her father, who has always worked at sea.
She was 6 years old when she left fishing with her father for the first time, where she would help clean the fish and untangle the nets.
“I think things can be done differently, because the culture of salmon will never be durable,” she said.
“If the industry had not moved into us, Kawésqar would probably still live on these banks as we have always done. It is essential that after thousands of years in these channels, the balance is maintained.”
The Chile’s salmon industry has long been criticized for polluting the fjords and the coast, triggering record proliferations, regular escapes that threaten native fauna, as well as intensive use of antimicrobials.
Salmon farms pump more than 350 metric tonnes of antibiotics in the sea each year. Given these quantities, the non -governmental surveillance group Seafood watch Recommends people to avoid eating Chilean salmon unless it is purchased from a certified and sustainable company.
However, the legislation is in its last stage on its adoption through the Chilean congress which would consider the culture of salmon and the traditional way of life of the Kawésqar people in the “totally incompatible” region, interrupting the expansion of industry.
Politicians also debate to freeze or limit concessions on new farms in the most southern waters.
Reinaldo Caro takes in his nets with a bar socket in the Gulf of Almirante Montt.
John Bartlett for NPR
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John Bartlett for NPR
“They should go,” says Carocca. “But it’s not that simple – many people depend on the labor industry. What we have to ask ourselves is what remains when the farms advance? What will these people do?”
“Because we have already seen almost 50 years of a model that does not work, based on an exotic species which is not from here, and which requires that so much are added to the water to work.”
“It generates billions of dollars, but how many billions are worth this destruction?”
