Image: La Prensa Austral

Eventual closure of Nova Austral would be catastrophic for Porvenir

Legal representatives of the company warn that the sanctions may possibly lead to the cessation of operations in Chile, affecting about 40% of the Fuegian population that revolves around this industry.

• It is estimated that, with the sanctions, Nova Austral places at risk 10.7% of its property in aquaculture concessions, 20% of its productive capacity and 14.6% of the concession area
• "In a town like Porvenir, with around 7,000 inhabitants, the closure of this industry would cause a catastrophic impact on the development of the province," said the mayor of the Fuegian capital, José Gabriel Parada.
• “We cannot forget that a decade before these companies arrived, there was a poster that asked that the last one to leave turn off the light,” warned the community chief in Congress.
  

In Tierra del Fuego, it is estimated that there are more than 3 thousand people who revolve around Nova Austral, of which 800 are directly linked.

Photo courtesy from Nova Austral

"In a town like Porvenir, with around 7,000 inhabitants, the closure of this industry would cause a catastrophic impact on the development of the province," said the mayor of the Fuegian capital, José Gabriel Parada.

More than 13 thousand km from Magallanes, the situation seems complex. The bustling salmon farming market in Norway is going through one of its darkest moments after the government of that country proposed to triple the tax and, literally, dealt a severe blow to the market with immediate consequences: close to 1,000 dismissals in two of the companies of the leading country in that industry and the freezing of investments.

In Chile, there is also a delicate moment, despite the fact that a year-end with positive profitability is expected for salmon farming. However, the cases brought before the courts set up an unflattering scenario and could end in a major impact on the development of this industry in Patagonia.

Photo courtesy from Nova Austral

A week ago, the Valdivia Environmental Court began processing a lawsuit filed by the State Defense Council, which accuses Nova Austral of "irreversible damage and permanent effects on the Alberto de Agostini National Park, in Magallanes, which compromises the environmental heritage of the nation.”

The action is based on the technical observations made by the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service, in addition to the sanctioning resolutions of the Superintendence of the Environment (SMA), due to environmental damage in the production centers of salmon Cockburn 13, Cockburn 23 and Aracena 10, and what was caused in the Aracena 14 salmon fattening center. The dumping of polluting agents into the sea and the overproduction of salmonids are reported.

The lawsuit then requests "the permanent and definitive stoppage of Nova Austral's activities in the concessions."

Photo courtesy from Nova Austral

The community chief spoke a few weeks ago before the Environment and National Assets Commission of the Senate, an opportunity in which the Nova Austral issue was addressed and the implications that the advance of these sanctioning procedures against the company and an eventual decision to close would have. of operations by the company.

“We are interested in clarity on the part of the State, because we have had a policy of installing companies where we do not even have the capacity to supervise. There is also no look to the future, because what happens if Nova closes? Is there a plan B from the government?"

The Undersecretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Julio Salas, has emphasized that the situation in Nova Austral is generating a negative impact not only for the company's workers, but also for the salmon farming industry as a whole. “The industry is grouped into three guilds, two of an interregional nature and one of the Magallanes Region. The three industry associations have a complex opinion regarding the behavior of the company”.

Source: La Prensa Austral (translated from original in Spanish)

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Address:	Av. Alberto Fuentes 299
City:	Porvenir
State/ZIP:	Magallanes,
Country:	Chile
Phone:	+56 61 2294100
E-Mail:	[email protected]
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