Lectures: 231
One year of government has been completed and progress has been scant.
Representatives of artisanal fishing call on President Gabriel Boric to speed up the pace one year after the beginning of his government.
Hernán Cortés, president of the National Council for the Defense of Fishing Heritage AG (CONDEPP) and the National Federation of Artisanal Fishermen Unions of Chile (FENASPAR) points out that “the progress in invalidating the Fisheries Law has been scarce, the project of annulment of the Fisheries Law is still sleeping in the Constitution Commission of the Senate, chaired by Senator Matías Walker, who has not put the bill on the table.”
For her part, Sara Garrido, president of the Women’s Corporation for Artisanal Fishing in Chile, says that “I would have expected much more.” And she adds that “the hermetic work being carried out by the undersecretary, without participation, is not a good sign.” In addition, it states that “the government has focused solely on the new fishing law, a project about which we do not know what it will say, leaving aside important matters such as addressing the social and economic crisis due to the lack of the common hake resource as in Caleta Cocholgue here in BioBío.”
He adds that: “We cannot wait for a new law to address these issues that are urgent for artisanal fishing. In addition, little interest is seen in advancing the participation of women in spaces for fishing discussion, I am referring to the zonal councils that have not met since the previous government here in Biobío”.
Hernán Machuca, spokesperson for CONDEPP, indicates that “We want the president to fulfill his commitment to start the discussion of the New Fishing Law in May, and to collect the demands of artisanal fishing: fair division (100% artisanal sardines), transparency in tenders and a social platform that protects fishermen and their families”
To conclude, Hernán Cortés stressed: “We ask President Boric to speed up the pace regarding Artisanal Fishing, a year has passed since his government began and we want him to fulfill his commitments.”
