Chile strengthens coordination among its institutions to combat illegal fishing

Chilean institutions responsible for regulating, controlling, and supervising the fishing and aquaculture sector have expressed their intention to collaborate to combat illegal fishing and strengthen enforcement in national waters.

To put this coordination into practice, the Undersecretary of Fishing and Aquaculture, Osvaldo Urrutia, organized a meeting with the Director General of the Maritime Territory and Merchant Marine (Directemar), Vice Admiral Arturo Oxley; the National Director of Sernapesca, Soledad Tapia; as well as the directors of the Directorate of Maritime Safety and Operations (Dirsomar) and the Directorate of Maritime Interests and Aquatic Environment (Dirinmar).

"We are seeking to coordinate the efforts of the State of Chile in the best possible way to combat illegal fishing, remove illegal actors from the equation, and thereby increase the value of legal fishing, benefiting those who operate in accordance with the regulations," Urrutia stated.

In more detail, Subpesca has also highlighted the impact of illegal fishing, including the overexploitation of common hake and other sensitive fisheries, such as seaweed, in the northern part of the country.

For this reason, a possible implementation of joint enforcement and more frequent information sharing between institutions has been studied, aiming to improve the capacity to respond to and combat these illegal activities.

"It was a very productive meeting, which allowed us to review all the matters we work on together with Directemar. Our mandate is to further strengthen this coordination, especially in inspections along the entire coast, but also in the exchange of information and intelligence," Soledad Tapia.