3. SITE SELECTION
3.1 Definition of Farm/System Boundaries
Any sea farm needs to have an aquaculture concession or license to operate in the territory. The aquaculture concession or license is the administrative act through which the National Ministry of Defense gives to a person rights of use, for a period of 25 years renewable, over certain domestic goods (like sea bottom, water column, beaches or land-beaches) to carry out in them aquaculture activities. That period will be renewed unless half of the farm site environmental reports are negative or the farm presents infractions causing immediate termination according to the Law.
Concessions and authorizations are transferable and in general susceptible to legal business, including leasing.
No one person can ask for licenses that represent more than 20 percent of the total surface included in AAA, discounting the surface already issued for other purposes than aquaculture and also discounting minimum distances between farms requested by regulations.
License applications must include a technical project and other information specified by the regulation, including its geo referenced location (boundaries polygon). The Navy Undersecretary will check plans and not overlap with other maritime concessions, validating these basic documents of the project. Eventual superposition and respect of minimum distances with other aquaculture and fishery licenses is checked by SUBPESCA. Opinion or objections from other agencies are considered in each region through the pertinent organizations (regional committees of fisheries and aquaculture). Once all processes are developed and verified SUBPESCA sends all background information to the National Defense Ministry—Undersecretary of the Navy with the respective technical report.
The Minister of defense finally grants (or reject) the aquaculture concession dictating the resolution signed up by the Undersecretary of navy.
It is important to mention that the holder of the concession has to include in the background information a “Preliminary characterization of the site” containing environmental, topographic, and oceanographic studies in the area selected for the farm site where the aquaculture activity is planned to be developed. This information is fundamental for the EIA system that operates in this authorization process. In general the aquaculture operations will be subjected to the EIA System—General Law of the basis of environment.
The process will determine, according to the preliminary characterization of the site, if the project has to be presented as an Environmental Impact Declaration or EIA study. The license Application process is shown in Figure 6. The EIA system is administered by a Regional Environment Commission and eventually by the National Unit if the environmental impact reaches more than one region.
According to the Environmental regulation of aquaculture (RAMA), intensive production farms like salmon, must maintain between them a minimum distance of 1.5 nautical miles. The minimum distance between these sites and other with extensive production systems should be 400 meters.
Historically site selection in sea cage farming at the beginning emphasized environmental conditions appropriate for sea farming in terms of bathymetry (presently minimum 40 m.), gross estimations of water renewal and giving particular importance to bad weather protection, site access and proximity to ports, road and other services. The initial small scale of farms created a good relationship with local communities because lodging, sea transportation, cage manufacturing, and labor were provided by them, principally in the Reloncavi Gulf and Chiloé territories. Operations
Figure 6. License application/approval process.
and the sea cages labor were not disruptive with the culture of communities. Owners and managers interacted with people around the farm operations constructing social capital and trust. Politically the industry was well accepted and in general supported.
Notwithstanding, the progressive overcrowding of farms, the installation of processing plans—with demanding routine work—along with the emigration of owners and managers, opened an increasing gap with the community. The arrival of managers, professionals and technicians without adequate coaching contributed to augment this undesirable gap.
Sites were initially designed to operate with 1 or 2 modules of 10–12 square cages each, using typically between 0.5 to 2.0 Hectares. General geometry and boundaries are determined by geomorphology of the site and bathymetry. Minimum distance between salmon farms is 1.5 nautical miles.
In summary, in a more integrated way, it has been estimated by some authors that the aquaculture licensing system in Chile has three dimensions according to the present legislation as is shown in Figure 7. In this system there are three basic ambits of authorizations: one related to environmental dimension, which verifies compliance essentially with EIA requirements coordinated and resolved by the Environmental Agency; the second, which verifies compliance with the Fisheries and Aquaculture Law, coordinated and resolved by SUBPESCA; and the third one which verifies compliance with the use of the coastal zone and related regulations, coordinated and resolved by the Undersecretary of the Navy (Ministry of Defense).
3.2 Complying with Administrative/Legal Procedures during Operation
In addition to the requirements, procedures, and steps specified above, it should be added that:
• Deadline to begin operations is one year counted since the physical delivery of the concession. Operation is recognized when the activity of the center is equal to or greater than the minimum operating levels by species and area established by regulation.
Figure 7. Ambits of authorizations involved in aquaculture licensing.
• It is understood that operation exists when the facility must comply with the rest period or temporary cessation of activities determined by resolution of the authority (counted as operation).
• The License holder may detain operations for two consecutive years and may apply for extension of equivalent of twice the time of operation that preceded the stoppage, with a maximum of four years.
• Transfers, leases and any act involving the transfer of rights of aquaculture concessions or that enables its exercise must be recorded in the Register of Aquaculture Concessions. The Registry of Concessions
is public and is available for consultation on the website of SUBPESCA.
• License mortgage may proceed following the requirements indicated by the Law.
• License holders pay annually a unique patent of 20 “tributary units” (indexed unit) per month per hectare, in the case of exotic species, like salmon.
This payment will finance INFAs and aquaculture research for regulation, among principal destinations.
• In case of a high risk disease in a given site, AMAs, the authority in virtue of the regulation on protection measures to control them, can order isolation of sites or AMAs avoiding/minimizing risk of propagation.
Special measures can include elimination of specimens in the farms, special biosecurity measures, restrictions and or additional measures on transport, cleaning, processing, disinfection, use of antibiotics, other products to control pathologies and plagues, and any other activities related to species farming.
• Some of the most important causes of license termination (anticipated expiration) are:
• Use of the license for a different purpose (for instance other species farming).
• Patent is not duly paid.
• Sanctioned 3 times within 2 years (next to the first infraction).
• Introduction of exotic species or GMO without authorization.
• Operations not initiated within the initial of 1 year or stop operations for more than 2 consecutive years (there are some exceptions explicated in the regulation).
• Suspension of operations not respected.
• Three sanctions in 3 years (density, resting period, vaccination), release of exotic species, classification with low biosecurity immediately after a suspension of operations.
• Licenses in strips between macro zones and that are not requested re localization.
• Licenses will not be renewed to holders of licenses who have not paid fines caused by unfair or anti-union practices. Either concession will not be renewed to the holder of a license that accumulates 3 infractions for the same reason in 3 continued production cycles (same farm).
3.3 Consultation with Stakeholders
The applicant has to obtain Maritime authority validation of plans and certification of no overlap with other concessions. Then SUBPESCA analyzes that the application entered complies with all legal requirements and additionally consults all stakeholders at regional levels (normally through the Regional Office and Commission). In this consultation usually intervenes: Artisanal Fisheries, Communities involved, Indigenous People organizations, Tourism organizations, Ports and Maritime chambers, among others.
Eventual objections are evaluated at the regional level and then sent to central SUBPESCA to continue the process. The project pre-evaluated is subjected to the EIA system. Having passed these stages the project has to publish and the public can present objections.
These are finally resolved and the process continues for the final approval and registrations. Under present regulations the process should take around 9–12 months, but many past applications are still pending.
Sites categories and carrying capacity. The GLFA establishes that farms must operate not exceeding maximum carrying capacity of the environment. The environmental specific regulation, RAMA, establishes that to initiate operations the applicant must present a preliminary characterization of the site (CPS) which has to demonstrate that the sediment has aerobic conditions and define that during the operation, through environmental reports (INFA), the environmental condition of the site has to be monitored verifying that the farms have not surpassed carrying capacity of the water body, a situation that is reached when the sediment shows anaerobic conditions.
The companion resolution of RAMA N° 3612/2009 sets methodologies to develop CPS and INFA.
Environmental parameters and their thresholds for both CPS and INFA are specified in order to determine environmental condition of the site. For this purpose, the resolution classifies farms in 8 categories considering production, depth, production system (intensive or extensive), and type of sediment, associating to each category a explicit number of environmental variables that have to be monitored. In function of the characteristics of the farm (or the bottom below it), farms can have more than one category (Bustamante, 2010).
In the past, INFAs were directly in charged by the companies to private authorized consultants. In order to increase transparency, the modified GLFA established that since April 2011, the National Fishery Service (SERNAPESCA) will elaborate INFAs. The law also authorized SERNAPESCA to contract qualified and registered third parties to do technical studies, which have to be selected through a public tender process.
Categories of aquaculture sites, CPS, INFA are detailed in the Companion Resolution of RAMA, i.e., Resolution Ex. 3612 (2009). This last had a recent modification in June 2014.
3.4 Adjustment of Maximum Production Plan
According to Carrying Capacity Estimates of the Selected Site and Other Indicators According to present regulation carrying capacity of a site is reflected by the oxygen condition of the sediments below the site. Accordingly, when the site presents anaerobic conditions in the sediments as per the specifications and methodology established in the environment regulation of aquaculture (RAMA), then the site cannot receive fish until an aerobic condition is recovered. Evaluations are annually done when the site is at maximum biomass charge. It is important to highlight that a farm cannot receive fish until the farm has the new results of INFA that demonstrate that it is satisfactorily operating in levels compatible with the capacity of the water body.
Additionally according to the GLFA, SUBPESCA establishes for each licenses group (neighbourhood) maximum density per species or group of species. This topic as well as classification based on biosecurity will be considered in the AMA’s chapter below.