The Economy Minister, José Ramón Valente, announced that they will make use of the presidential veto in the law that regulates the capture of the giant squid, and will not object to trawling as a method of fishing for this cephalopod.
Last week, the Chamber of Deputies had approved the changes proposed by the Senate to the aforementioned bill, leaving it ready for enactment.
Industrial fishermen protest in a road linking Talcahuano with Concepción, in rejection of the "Cuttlefish Law". (Source: Emol.com)
Yesterday afternoon, the Minister of Economy and the Undersecretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Eduardo Riquelme, called a press conference in which they set the government's position.
"We will not object to the elimination of trawling as a fishing method for the giant squid, and in the coming days we will present a presidential veto (additive) to ncorporate, in addition to the hand line or jigging gear, the purse seine as a fishing gear, to be used by both the artisanal sector as industrial," they indicated.
"In this way, the interests of workers in both sectors are safeguarded and we ensure the capture and sustainable production of this resource," they added.
The minister also indicated that during the vacancy period that the law has set six months after its publication, the Undersecretariat of Fisheries will prepare "a technical study on the impact of the current fishing gear on the capture of the giant squid, analyzing the quality of the resource in relation to each one of the fishing gears, the incidence of this in the human consumption and in the sustainability of the resource."
In addition, he clarified that "once the new regime enters into force, the level of productivity of the process plants supplied by both sectors will be analyzed, the volume of capture of this resource and the defense of the country's interest before the international fishing organisms, in order to maintain the global quotas vis-à-vis the rest of the neighboring countries (...) evaluating an improvement of the regime if necessary ".
Finally, Valente urged the artisanal and industrial sectors to "put aside violent demonstrations and demonstrations," and stressed that the government "has the doors open to carry out a fruitful dialogue."
The Minister of Economy, José Ramón Valentea, accompanied by the Undersecretary of Fisheries, Eduardo Riquelme, when announcing the Government's position.
The official announcement did not go well in the industrial fishing sector unions or by the artisanal fishermen, who warned that they will toughen their protests.
"We think it is unheard of for Congress to assume the right to decide with what tools the giant squid fishing can be carried out," said the president of the National Fishing Society (SONAPESCA), Osciel Velásquez.
The leader insisted that "trawling does not generate impacts", given that the giant squid is caught "half water" more than 200 meters above the seabed and the networks are selective without causing damage to the biomass when operating.
With regard to the alternative suggested by the Government, to use purse seine fishing, he said that this is an unfeasible technique for the industrial sector, because the type of vessel that it requires can only operate at certain times of the year and leaves the squid unsuitable for human consumption.
From the Association of Fishing Industry (ASIPES) also expressed their discomfort, and agreed that fishing by purse seine is unfeasible.
"We think it is serious that the Government endorses a bill that is clearly unconstitutional, as it was raised by the Undersecretariat of Fisheries on countless occasions," they said from the association.
On the other hand, the president of the Cooperativa de Jibieros Artesanales of San Vicente in Biobío, David Castro, considered that the Government's position implies "putting out the fire with benzine".
Miguel Angel Hernandez, artisan leader of Valparaiso, also expressed his dissatisfaction with the attitude of the Government "to twist the hand to the Congress, which had approved this law", and warned that they will continue mobilized.
Meanwhile, the National Coordinator of Jibieros plans to meet on Monday in Talcahuano to take action if the government insists on applying a presidential veto to the bill. This was announced by the leader Pascual Aguilera, president of Caleta de Pescadores Guayacán and member of the entity, who reiterated that if there is no agreement, the mobilizations will radicalize.
Yesterday, the two sectors continued to hold demonstrations and roadblocks in various parts of the country.
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"We will not object to the elimination of trawling as a fishing method for the giant squid, and in the coming days we will present a presidential veto (additive) to ncorporate, in addition to the hand line or jigging gear, the purse seine as a fishing gear, to be used by both the artisanal sector as industrial," they indicated.
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