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ASIPES and SONAPESCA complain about the bill to be voted on as the fishing sector's voice has not been heard.
Industrial fishing unions protest about Fisheries Act amendment agreement
CHILE
Saturday, December 15, 2018, 03:00 (GMT + 9)
The agreement reached between the Government and the Fisheries Committee of the Senate to vote, on Monday December 17, the proposed "Short Act" for fishing, sent in mid-year by the Executive, has generated unrest in the fishing sector industry.
Short Fisheries Act deemed disappointing.
This agreement merges the initial proposal of the government with some of the Senate Fisheries Commission, which are mainly related to greater guarantees for artisanal fishermen and establishes that the owner of the fish is the State of Chile. However, the most relevant issue of the proposal is that it ends the automatic renewal of fishing licenses, reported La Tercera.
According to the calendar established in the agreement between the government and Parliament, on December 17 and 19, the particular indications will be voted on, and then the bill will go to the Senate room. The next step will be the treatment of the bill in the Fishing Commission of Deputies, and then in the chamber. If it receives the approval, the bill will be ready for its promulgation.
Fishermen from Valparaíso held demonstrations against the amendments of Short Fisheries Act.
The largest fishing associations, the Fishing Industry Association (ASIPES) and the National Fisheries Society (SONAPESCA), have rejected the agreement reached "behind closed doors" and have questioned that the bill will be voted on without having heard the position of the industry.
"What happened is very serious, because there is a much hurry to explain in order to agree on a vote and that, in addition, the agreement includes the explicit decision not to listen to the experts on fishing issues, or to know the opinion of lawyers and jurists in the discussion of this bill," said Macarena Cepeda Godoy, ASIPES president.
"It is inconceivable to censor the actors, technicians and academics who know this activity best, preventing them from being heard in advance and thus giving up the possibility of enriching the debate with different views and contributions," she added.
For his part, Héctric Bacigalupo, SONAPESCA general manager, said: "It had never happened that a bill like this was processed, without listening to anyone. We are quite uninformed, given that what happened, nobody has the texts of what is being legislated."
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On the other hand, the president of the Fisheries Committee of the Senate, Rabindranath Quinteros, rejected the accusations of the fishing associations and assured that, contrary to what they argue, they had a space to participate in the debate.
In the senator’s opinion, the claims have to do with what they do not like the Executive's proposal because "it directly touches their interests".
Meanwhile, from the artisanal sector, Fenaspar Chile president Hernán Cortés criticized the complaints of the
fishing industry about the eminent vote of the so-called Short Act, which he said, comes to correct some of the privileges that the Fisheries Act confer to the fishing industry.
"The fishing industry forgets how Longueira Act was created, at a meeting where Piñera's government and Minister Longueira allowed industrialists and pseudo-managers to distribute the fishing resources of all Chileans," Cortés emphasized.
CONAPACH managers insist on the request to reject Short Fisheries Act.
The leader pointed out that this same meeting, in which several of those involved today demand "democracy", "lied to artisanal fishing, with an agreement that would give 50 per cent of the quotas and that, finally, with the same influence as they were 65 per cent of the share of the main fisheries for the seven families."
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