GenevaMarch 1 and 2, 2007

‘Challenges and opportunities from

fisheries regulation in Chile’

Fisheries Research

Actors and roles

Under Secretariat for Fisheries: Creates the demand for Basic Studies for decision making, providing the budget for those Basic as well as Strategic studies. These studies are the basis for high impact measures, i.e. capture

quotas and temporary access restrictions.

Regional Fisheries Councils: (5 councils covering the whole country). Under request by SUBPESCA, these Regional Councils suggest the need

for research studies for the calendar year. These studies are financed through the Fisheries Research Fund (FIP).

Fisheries Research Council: The Council was created by the General Fisheries Law (Ley General de Pesca) (article 94 of DS N°430/1991) and manages the Fisheries Research Fund, establishes the annual research program and its priorities, through public tenders assigns research projects and the financial resources to carry them out and

approves the technical qualification of the projects.

Fisheries Research

Instituto de Fomento Pesquero (IFOP): Research institution of an executive nature, among others of the basic research studies requested by

SUBPESCA for its decision making process.

Research Institutions and Universities. Chilean Universities and Institutes are the bodies in charge of conducting the studies prioritized by the Fisheries Research Council. The latter assigns the projects through

public tender and are financed through the FIP.

Fisheries Research

Financing

Annual Budget of SUBPESCA (BIP): SUBPESCA’s annual budget contemplates the financial resources of conducting Basic Studies. US$3 million

are provided for this item under the 2007 budget.

Fisheries Research Fund (FIP): Created by the General Fisheries Law (article 93 of DS N°430/1991) its objective if to provide with financial resources to

fisheries and aquaculture research projects. Funding comes from the contributions made by the private industry through the payment of the Single Fisheries Licence (Patente Única Pesquera) contemplated in article 43 of DS

N°430/1991. For 2007 the fund has US$ 4.4 million.

Fisheries Management Fund (FAP): Created by Law 19849 (that amended previous laws) its purpose is to finance fisheries and aquaculture research

and artisanal fisheries promotion and development projects, as well as fisheries activities enforcement and monitoring programs. The FAP budget

for 2007 reaches US$ 3.7 million.

Legal Framework regulating Fisheries Activities in Chile

Main Issues

I. Access Regimes

Fisheries resources are classified considering their exploitation status, to which possible actions for their management are linked. The Law

contemplates the following regimes:

General Access Regime. Applicable to resources with low level of exploitation. Any citizen can operate in these fisheries, subject to the legal requirements.

Fully Exploited Fisheries: when levels of exploitation are such that with the catch of the authorised catching units there is no surplus in the hydro-

biological specie. Under this regime a limitation to the access of new agents and a cap to the fishing effort is established.

Legal Framework regulating Fisheries Activities in Chile

Fishery in Recovery: it is applied when the fishery in question has exceeded its recovery capacity and it over exploited. A closed of at least 3 years is imposed. Once recovered, access is granted through annual tenders of

capture quotas.

Fishery in Early Development: it is subject to the general access regime and its informed catches do not represent more that 10% of the estimated global

catch. Access is granted through annual tenders of capture quotas.

II. Access Regulations

Artisanal Fisheries Registry. Artisanal fishermen are required to register in this Registry kept by SERNAPESCA allowing them to fish in the regional in which they are registered. Exception made for migratory and deep sea fishing.

Industrial Fisheries Registry. List of vessels and industrial ship-owners authorised to operate in national fisheries. Linked to it are the vessels authorised to operate in fully exploited and closed access fisheries. Its validity is subject to the continuous operation of the vessel and the payment of the license fee.

Legal Framework regulating Fisheries Activities in Chile

III. Resources Allocation

In order to ensure sustainable fishing conditions it is necessary to create modalities for resources allocation - both between different sub sectors and within each sub sector - that generate incentives for long term approaches in the industry.

Between Sub sectors: To enhance the governance of the sector as well as the better use of the resources, Law 19849 contemplates the allocation of quotas for a same fishery among artisanal and industrial sub sectors. This was the case for the main fisheries, using the historic participation in official landings as the criteria for the distribution of such quotas.

Industrial sector: the distribution of the industrial quota is done taking into account the share in the same stock of each productive unit. Nevertheless agreements between operators of the stock in the specified area have allowed the allocation of the industrial quota.Allocated the industrial quota, the criteria established in Law 19713 - maximum catch limits - in force until 2012 are applied.

Artisanal Fisheries: progress has been made to grant quotas to artisanal fisheries that incorporate in its administration optimal operational concepts in order to improve the earnings of the sector. This has been implemented through two ways:

-Management Areas Regime: it provides for the allocation of an area where natural banks of a certain benthonic specie is located to a artisanal fisheries organization legally established. This organization has the exclusive right over those resources and has to establish Management Plans with follow-up studies that ensure the achievement of the objectives of the Plan.

-Artisanal Catch Regime: It is a fisheries management tool that allows the distribution of an artisanal quota in a region among organizations, coves or kind of boat.

Responsible public institutional setting:

Policy Orientations

Ministry of Economy.

DFL N° 5/1983, Duties of the Ministry of Economy in the Fisheries sector. 

“Promote the development of the national fisheries sector, the protection, conservation and integral exploitation of the resources

Ministry of Economy

Under Secretariat for Fisheries

(SUBPESCA)

National Fisheries Service

(SERNAPESCA)

Regulatory Framework

Responsible institution: Under Secretariat for Fisheries

Mission: Promote the sustainable development of the Fishing Activity and Aquaculture, setting policies and

implementing regulations, that increase the social and economic benefits of the sector for the wellbeing of

present and future”.

Institutional organization

Pesquería Acuicultura JurídicaEstudios

SectorialesCoordinación

Pesquera

AuditoríaInterna

Planificacióny Control de

Gestion

Gabinete

Under Secretary

Fisheries Aquaculture Legal

DivisionSectorialStudies

FisheriesCoorrdination

Internal Audit

Planning andManagement

Control

Administration

Cabinet

PR and Insitutional

Cooperation

Enforcement and Control

Responsible Institution: National Fisheries Service

Mission: control the compliance of the fisheries, aquaculture, sanitary and environmental laws and regulations as well as of

International Agreements regulating the activity, with the aim of preserving the hydro-biological resources and contribute to the

sustainable development of the fisheries sector”.

Fisheries Sanitary

Fisheries Enforcement

Administrative Department

Information & Statistics

Legal Deparment

Fisheries Mngmt.

Artisanal Fisheries

National

Deputy Direction

National Direction

Institucional organization

Institutional arrangements for the establishment of management measures

The General Fisheries and Aquaculture Law provides for a participative decision making process through the creation of Fishing Councils.

- National Fisheries Council: Representatives of the different actors in the sector, both from the public and private sector, such as the Navy, SERNAPESCA, IFOP, representatives of the industry (fishing and aquaculture) and counsellors designated by the President.

Role: According to the General Fisheries Law it has an advisory as well as an adjudicative role. Examples of the latter are the declaration of regimes, access close and quota fixing.

- Regional Fisheries Councils: The General Fisheries Law created five Regional Councils: I-II Regions, III-IV Regions, V-IX Regions, X-XI Regions and XII Region. Their objective is to de-centralize the adoption of administrative measures and make more effective tha participation of actors in the fishing sector at the regional level.

Role: Similar to the National Council but at the local level.

This regional councils contribute with their technical expertise through reports on local management measures that affect mainly the artisanal fishery.

The operation of foreign fleets on trans-boundary resources beyond Chile’s 200 mile EEZ makes it necessary to strengthen joint management policies with those other States with which we share common conservation interests.

-The state of fisheries and the demand for high quality fish products requires an improvement in the conditions under which the artisanal fisheries operates and their products sold.

During 2006 works was carried out on a bill (Ley de Primera Venta Artesanal) to improve the sell of fisheries products from the artisanal sector, incorporating sanitary requirements and enforcement measures among other. This would improve the negotiating position of the sector giving it the possibility to obtain better prices. Similarly the trading model proposed in the bill takes into consideration elements such as traceability and quality requirements incorporating international trade standards to these products.Included in the bill are financial resources for the improvement of basic infrastructure and for capacity building and cultural adaptation.

Actions have to taken to incorporate artisanal fisheries into the benefits of world trade. In that sense, organizational and technical and productive elements have to be introduce into the artisanal culture in order to render it competitive in world markets.

Improvement in the conditions under which artisanal fisheries products are sold

During 2006 works was carried out on a bill (Ley de Primera Venta Artesanal) to improve the sell of fisheries products from the artisanal sector, incorporating sanitary requirements and enforcement measures among other. This would improve the negotiating position of the sector giving it the possibility to obtain better prices. Similarly the trading model proposed in the bill takes into consideration elements such as traceability and quality requirements incorporating international trade standards to these products.

Included in the bill are financial resources for the improvement of basic infrastructure and for capacity building and cultural adaptation.

Enforcement and controlStrengthening SERNAPESCA’s role in control, providing it with more human resources. At the same time progress is being made to increase sanctions to disincentive violations of the law (requires legislative action).

Regional Fisheries Organization for the South Pacific

The growing presence of foreign distant water fleets in the mackerel fishery in the high seas contiguous to Chile’s EEZ and the threat imposed thereof on the sustainability of the fishery by Chilean operators, lead the government to enthusiastically accept in 2005 the invitation by Australia and New Zealand to co-sponsor the creation of a RFO in the South Pacific.

The original position on this issues is based on the need to have an appropriate conservation regime for mackerel in the High Seas, through its management under the competence of this RFO, without impinging upon the conservation regime currently imposed in the EEZ nor the historic share that Chile has had in the fishery of this resource.

The process should lead to the establishment of legally binding instrument for the conservation and management of living natural resources in the High Seas of the South pacific Ocean and in the understanding that conservation and management include the sustainable utilization of the resources and the protection of the marine environment.

Gracias