More than ten thousand workers marched through the streets of Chile from the Plaza de Puerto Montt to the Presidential Delegation of Los Lagos in protest of the SBAP bill, which would directly impact the banning of salmon farming in reserves, potentially affecting more than 60% of the industry.
The streets were full of posters with the slogan "I am from the south, I am a salmon farmer," the war cry with which Chileans directly and indirectly related to the farms demanded their rights. The demand: that the project not be approved.
The opposition to the bill stems from its problematic clauses, particularly, Article 158 of the Fishing and Aquaculture Act. This proposed amendment seeks to eradicate salmon farming in national and forest reserves, fueling widespread discontent.
The government, for its part, claims that the bill has no retroactive effect. However, the workers explained that there would be an effect on their jobs because of the instability caused by the measure. The workers also emphasized that "we are not marching here against the environment, but against a bad public policy that puts thousands of jobs at risk."
The president of the Blumar union, Paola Sanhueza, indicated that "the discontent of our sector today is due to the deaf ears of the government concerning the project being discussed in the Joint Commission, where they have not wanted to listen to the workers. We are around seventy thousand workers. All these projects only harm and impoverish our country. We will defend our right to work."
Moreover, Sanhueza pointed out that these salmon farming concessions are now situated in reserves and "have a term of 25 years and, with the new regulation, they would not be renewed", so "the companies have no projection or stability to continue operating."
Alejandro Santibañez, the president of the Multisindical de Trabajadores del Salmón y Ramas Afines, said that "today the workers are more united than ever. (…) We believe it is unfair they want to remove the salmon farmers from the south of Chile. More than the salmon farmers, the workers."
The senator for Los Lagos, Fidel Espinoza (PS), also participated in the demonstration, they said "I am a protector of the environment. I have always supervised the salmon farms, but that does not mean that we approve a project of this type, which puts thousands of jobs at risk," and assured that the initiative "will mean brutal unemployment in our region."
For his part, the territorial director of SalmonChile, Tomás Monge, emphasized that today's mobilization was "a historical event. More than 10 thousand workers, representatives of suppliers, SMEs, transporters, shipping companies, and the entire salmon farming value chain expressed their concern about the consequences of this bill for the southern part of the country, which jeopardizes the future of this productive sector".
In addition, several companies, such as Salmones Austral and Cooke Chile joined the mobilizations against the bill. The motto that "development, environment and salmon farming are compatible."
The massive mobilization was organized by various entities, among them: