CONAPACH representatives at a session of the Senate's Commission of Maritime Interests, Fisheries and Aquaculture. (Photo: CONAPACH)
Conapach proposes Fisheries Law amendments, favouring artisanal sector
CHILE
Thursday, April 19, 2018, 23:40 (GMT + 9)
Leaders of the National Confederation of Artisanal Fishermen of Chile (CONAPACH) described the presentation with 34 amendments to the Fisheries Law in favour of the artisanal sector proposed by the base organizations at the XXIII National Congress as a clear and straightforward presentation. The proposals were exposed last week at a session of the Senate’s Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Interests Committee.
The meeting was attended by a delegation from CONAPACH headed by its president, Oscar Espinoza.
The highlighted point among the ones made by the leaders at the commission is the request to prioritize the complaints of the artisanal fishing over the industrial sector. In this regard, they made it clear that in the face of any method to put an end to 20-year tradable industrial fishing licenses, first quotas should first be redistributed in favour of the artisanal activity.
"We do not want the government to put the industry back on over the artisanal fishing and for that reason, we need a new distribution in favour of our activity, very depressed in recent years by the scarcity of resources," said Espinoza.
"Among our struggles are to make the brama chilensis and giant squid 100 per cent artisanal as well as to make 15 per cent of the industrial quota destined to tender for maximum sustainable yield go directly to artisanal fishermen as well as the opening of new vacancies in fisheries that are healthy, among other requests contained in a document that has been distributed among authorities and parliamentarians," he said.
On the other hand, Marco Salas, CONAPACH treasury head, indicated that he does not conceive a fishing law without working with the actors, especially with artisanal fishing. The same goes for the announced benthic law, which will be seen in Congress separately from the Fisheries Law.
"On this issue, CONAPACH has carried out a systematic activity with benthic artisanal fishermen from all over Chile and we want that work to be reflected in the law," he said.
To conclude, CONAPACH president said that they have "worked hard on the proposals during the last three years, in macrozonal workshops carried out in a continuous and transversal way with the basic organizations of artisanal fisheries throughout Chile, proved in the XXIII CONAPACH National Congress, with the participation of more than 200 leaders and not behind closed doors".
Therefore, he expressed his hope that the government, in the 45 days it has estimated to draw up a fisheries law, "can see these proposals, take them into account and include them, because artisanal fisheries have waited a long time for a response to their claims."
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