Sernapesca establishes national fisheries, aquaculture oversight network

Chile’s national fisheries agency, Sernapesca, has formed the “Inspection Network for the Sustainability of Fishing and Aquaculture," which looks to coordinate the oversight of the various organizations that control fishing and aquaculture activities throughout the entire value chain.

The newly formed network is comprised of 10 institutions: including the Chilean navy, air force, the Carabineros national police force, investigative police, national tax office SII, national customs department, Ministry of Health, the national forest service Conaf, the agricultural and livestock service SAG, and the Superintendency of the Environment.

"All the institutions present here have a joint challenge: to respond to the citizens’ demand for greater effectiveness in oversight. We must provide the country with the certainty that there is a level of compliance so as to not jeopardize the sustainability of our resources," Sernapesca Director Alicia Gallardo said in the inaugural address.

Following the network launch, network members will hold bilateral meetings with Sernapesca to establish specific working groups depending on each regulatory body’s scope of action and the point in which they intervene in the production chain, such as fishing extraction, landings, harvest, transport and sales.

The national oversight network is framed within the economic, social and environmental objectives contained in the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

"We want to promote the model of comprehensive oversight in the value chain, focusing on the risks of greatest impact for the sustainability of resources, and effectively control the health and environmental risks of both fishing and aquaculture," Gallardo said.

Another objective is to share inspection experiences in order to improve oversight procedures, as well as to establish joint dissemination and education strategies for the community, in order to better communicate the institutions’ efforts to protect fishery resources and the marine environment.

The network is also "an alliance for sustainability, the purpose of which is to place value on inspections as a tool to ensure the supply chain of healthy and safe food, and also contribute to the economic reactivation of our country, by providing efficient services in the context of the pandemic that has hit us," the Sernapesca head noted.

Photo courtesy of Sernapesca

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