Chilean Groups Highlight Salmon Industry Labour Problems

Something "smells fishy," say Terram and Oxfam

Influential NGOs Oxfam Chile and Fundacion Terram this week began the second phase of their “Not Afraid To Go Against The Current” campaign, an effort originally launched in January to highlight questionable labor and environmental practices within Chile’s farmed salmon and trout industry (PT, Jan. 15).

Like in the initial stage, Oxfam and Terram plan to again publish ads in local and national newspapers, broadcast radio spots and hang posters in Puerto Montt busses. But the environmental organizations have also adapted their campaign to reflect recent changes in the industry, which has suffered significantly over the past eight months due in large part to an ongoing outbreak of Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA). A highly contagious virus, ISA can be lethal to fish but does not affect humans.

Of particular concern for Oxfam and Terram are the more than 2,000 industry workers who have been laid off this year by companies such as Marine Harvest, the world’s leading farmed salmon producer, which continue to downsize their operations in Chile.

“The companies have shown they’re not able to self regulate themselves and the state has shown it has little oversight ability,” said Terram Director Flavia Liberona. “There needs to be an institutional framework set up that takes into account the size of the industry and that guarantees protection for both the environment and workers’ rights.”

Read the full article published in the Patagonia Times on September 2, 2008.