The 'Sins' of the Salmon Industry

CHILE - Long criticised for its environmental impacts, Chile's lucrative salmon farming industry is now being accused of violating labour, gender and indigenous rights as well.

The report ''Salmon Culture and Human Rights: Systematic Violation'', presented this month by the Oceana Foundation, received a harsh response from SOFAFA, an industrial development association, which called it a ''pseudo-study'' and said the international environmental non-governmental organisation is financed by competitors of the Chilean salmon producers.

Oceana's investigation, conducted by attorney Ariel León based on previous reports and testimonies that he gathered himself, concluded that the salmon industry violates constitutional standards in seven areas.

There are breaches of civil, political social, economic and cultural guarantees, says the NGO, which also denounced the restrictions on freedom to organise into unions as well as wage discrimination, and violations of the rights of indigenous peoples, of women, and of consumers in terms of food safety.

Salmon farming, which began to develop on a massive scale in 1986 in Chile's 10th and 11th regions (around 600 and 1,000 km south of Santiago, respectively), is today the fourth leading export of Chile, which is the world's second salmon producer, after Norway.

In 2004, Chile's salmon exports generated 1.44 billion dollars, and in the first quarter of 2005 foreign sales reached 461 million dollars, according to SalmonChile, an organisation of the sector's principal companies, both locally based and transnational.

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Source: ipsnews.net

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