Chilean salmon farmer Nova Austral’s salmon farm concessions in Chilean Patagonia have been the subject of intense scrutiny in recent weeks.
This week, a judge ordered the suspension of three Nova Austral salmon farms in Punta Arenas. Just a week prior, the company filed an environmental declaration associated with its USD 5.5 million (EUR 4.9 million) plan to move both a hatchery and growing facilities from the Alberto de Agostini National Park, located in the vicinity of Punta Arenas.
The move from the national park is voluntary and a result of an agreement between authorities and regional interest groups, according to a report in La Prensa Austral. But the recent news surrounding Nova Austral depicts some of the challenges the salmon industry faces in its expansion into Patagonia.
“After several years, we have made a significant step in our plan to exit the Alberto de Agostini National Park and the Puerto Natales corridor. It’s the work of many years, of searching for places to move this productive activity, that was led by sector authorities,” said Nova Austral’s general manager, Nicos Nicolaides.
The new location, in the Ensenada Wilson region of the Clarence Island, was proposed by Chile’s fishery sub-secretary, and passed through a series of requirements and processes for comment and evaluation.
The company expects to conclude the process by the end of the year, impacting a total of 13 concessions. There are still 12 other concessions within the park that the company is working with authorities to relocate. As part of the move, it will merge two of its farming centers. With the new facility, the company plans to produce around 10,000 metric tons (MT) each productive cycle, which is projected for 19 to 26 months.
In addition to the planned relocation, another area of its operation has been affected by a court order to suspend its operations, after an appeals court in Punta Arenas deemed a lawsuit admissible that will affect four concessions in the Beagle Canal, Punta Areas.
This dispute is ongoing, and involves concessions granted in 2005 to Cabo Pilar, a company Nova Austral acquired just recently in March 2019. Nicolaides said at the time that the location of these concessions would allow it to produce salmon without using antibiotics.
However, the dispute over the location of these concessions has been ongoing since an injunction filed in 2008 by local residents and Greenpeace Pacific Sur. According to a report in El Mostrador, residents accused Cabo Pilar of ignoring a previous ruling from 2008 that called for a total suspension of the operations in the area. Local groups and Greenpeace had accused Cabo Pilar of starting the operation illegally and questioned the concessions in the zone, which is registered as a biosphere.
The Punta Areas appeals court that has taken on the case, has ruled that operations in the at the disputed farms must cease until the issue is legally resolved. Greenpeace welcomed the ruling, saying it was an important step in slowing the industry's expansion into the more remote and undisturbed natural setting of southern Patatonia.
