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Photo: #RealChileProtecting Patagonian Seas from Salmon Farms
The Straight of Magellan in Chilean Patagonia (or Magallanes, as it’s known in Spanish) hosts the largest number of natural protected areas in the country. Permanent snow feeds the idyllic landscape, which has been shaped by glaciers, lakes, rivers and seas. Within its bounds live protected species—blue whales, sperm whales, Magellanic penguins, elephant seals, leatherback turtles, and southern and Chilean dolphins.
The cold waters of this far corner of the world are pristine; this makes them more sensitive to high-impact human activities. And now they’re being stressed by the arrival of salmon farms, which have already caused severe environmental damage in regions further north.
In Chile, the salmon industry uses harmful techniques and operates without proper regulation. Its rapid growth has overwhelmed coastal waters, filling them with huge amounts of antibiotics, chemicals, and salmon feces. These pollutants have led to partial or, in some places, complete lack of oxygen in the water, threating all forms of marine life.
Large salmon farms in the Magallanes region are already causing big damage. According to a government audit, more than half of the salmon farms operating there are affecting the availability of oxygen in the water, a condition that did not occur prior to their arrival.
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A journey through Chilean Patagonia: Living on and caring for the edge of the world
In Chilean Patagonia, at the southwestern tip of the American continent, the land breaks up into peninsulas, isthmuses, and islands surrounded by fjords and channels, forming hundreds of labyrinths.It bridges the sea and the land, a fragile yet vital network of ecosystems, with areas that remain pristine and life flourishing in every corner.To experience Patagonia is to inhabit a "maritorio," a worldview that sees "territory" from and within the sea. Photo: Fernanda Núñez Espinosa. It is to be surrounded by mountains that fade into the water, by glaciers that release small, silvery streams you can glimpse in the distance through the mist.It means exploring one of the planet's most pristine areas, a refuge for rich marine biodiversity. It means sharing the environment with a variety of cetaceans, including the great blue whale, fin whale, and sei whale; Chilean, common, and bottlenose dolphins; sea lions and elephant seals; and colonies of Magellanic, Humboldt, and other penguins.You walk through southern forests filled with lenga trees—native trees with deep roots and slender trunks—up to 400 or 500 years old and reaching over 30 meters. You feel the wind's constant presence on your face as it whistles through the waterways, shapes the foliage, and steers the ships. Photo: Fernanda Núñez Espinosa. A "maritorio" as identityThe first Spanish settlers arrived in this region around 1520. Beginning in the late 18th century, European and North American sealers and whalers traveled through the Strait of Magellan but did not settle there permanently.In 1843, Chile took control of the region by founding Fort Bulnes. However, indigenous peoples, including the Kawésqar, already lived there. Photo: Fernanda Núñez Espinosa. The Kawésqar sailed Chilean Patagonia's waters for thousands of years. They lived off the sea and traveled in canoes that served as their daily homes. As they sailed, they hunted for food (fish, shellfish, or sea lions), cooked over open fires, and attended births. They could read the wind and the tides as if they were their own language. The sea was not merely a resource; it was an extension of themselves, their memory, and their identity.But their relationship with the sea was violently disrupted. Seal hunters, whalers, traders, and settlers decimated the Kawésqar population by spreading diseases such as measles, tuberculosis, and smallpox. Their way of life was also disrupted: staple foods began to run short because of the indiscriminate hunting of sea lions and otters.The Kawésqar were forced to give up their nomadic lifestyle, change their clothing, and speak Spanish. Some families were relocated to missions, where they were exposed to disease and forced to live in closed communities and change their customs.The descendants of that population lost touch with their roots to escape the consequences of systematic persecution. The genocide of "the elders" is not a distant story: the older descendants heard about it directly from their grandmothers, grandfathers, mothers, and fathers, who endured that violence and managed to survive. Photo: Fernanda Núñez Espinosa. Returning to the sea: A way to resist current threatsThe ecosystems of Chilean Patagonia and the indigenous communities that live there have been facing a new threat for years: the expansion of industrial salmon farming. Research shows that between 2009 and 2023, the number of salmon farming concessions granted rose from 1,108 to 1,380—nearly 25%—in the Los Lagos, Aysén, and Magallanes regions. Another 157 applications for new concessions are currently pending.Fattening pens are scattered throughout the marine area, extending into remote parts of the Southern Ocean, even within protected areas. Accumulated waste (including feces and uneaten feed) creates oxygen-depleted zones. In addition, cetaceans have been killed or injured by collisions with vessels, most of which serve the salmon farming industry.Salmon farms are restricting the Kawésqar people’s freedom of movement: They can’t even travel through their own waters!The waterways were their home and their main source of food. Today, few Kawésqar families make their living from fishing. According to community members, they must spend more and more hours on the water to catch as much fish as before. Under these conditions, many people see salmon farming as one of their few job options. Photo: Fernanda Núñez Espinosa. The Kawésqar people’s connection to the sea—the foundation of their lives and culture—has suffered from a history of dispossession that has not ended, but has merely taken on a different form. The violence of colonization has now become the violence of boundless industrial growth.In light of this situation, the Kawésqar community "Grupos Familiares Nómades del Mar" is leading a project focused on diving and reconnecting with the sea. It seeks to restore the direct bond with the waters their ancestors navigated—a bond that salmon farming is putting at risk.The initiative primarily targets children. But as the diving classes progressed, moms, dads, and older community members were encouraged to enter the water. Some of them had been afraid of those waters, but now they dive into them as naturally as their ancestors would have.It is an act of memory and resistance: to look once more beneath the sea's surface where they were born and to restore to the new generations of Kawésqar a living connection to their maritime heritage—one that is not merely recounted, but felt. Photo: Fernanda Núñez Espinosa. Chilean Patagonia is not just a breathtaking landscape.It is a living space where Kawésqar communities—with support from AIDA, Greenpeace, and FIMA—continue to fight to halt the expansion of salmon farming and the damage it causes, so the sea remains theirs.
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Cetaceans and salmon farming: Challenges for the conservation of marine biodiversity in Chilean Patagonia (executive summary)
In 2018, the environmental organizations Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA), Greenpeace, and the NGO FIMA joined forces to confront the threat of the expansion of salmon farming in the southern waters of Chilean Patagonia. Since then, we have been actively working to expose and stop the impacts of intensive salmon production in pristine ecosystems, including special protected areas. In 2021, a scientific study of whale-ship interactions in Chilean Patagonia was published, including a video of a blue whale navigating a high-traffic area. According to the study, the world’s largest and most endangered mammal shares space with up to 870 vessels daily in Chilean Patagonia, one of its main feeding grounds. The study confirmed that 83% of the vessels were involved in the aquaculture industry.This finding shed light on a new facet of the environmental issues facing Chilean Patagonia, home to nearly 30% of the world’s cetacean species, including the endemic Chilean dolphin. This led us to commission a scientific report from a multidisciplinary team of experts to make the information publicly available. The results provided evidence of the impacts of salmon farming on cetaceans in Chilean Patagonia and highlighted the lack of studies and information needed to understand the magnitude and consequences of these impacts, as well as the true risk involved.In addition to complementing the efforts of civil society to demonstrate the urgency of halting the expansion of salmon farming in the country’s southern seas, we hope that this report will specifically draw attention to the real and potentially irreversible problem affecting these emblematic species. We also hope that the report’s recommendations will encourage the development of conservation measures for cetaceans, even in a context of insufficient knowledge, in accordance with the Precautionary Principle — recognized in the General Fisheries and Aquaculture Law, national legislation, and international law — which establishes the obligation to act in favor of environmental protection, even in the face of uncertainty. Finally, we hope that this report will motivate further research necessary to implement concrete and effective protective measures to make our waters a safe space for whales and dolphinsRead and download the executive summary
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Whales and salmon farming: how does the industry impact our gentle marine giants?
Chile is by nature a country of marine mammals. Of the 94 species of cetaceans existing in the world, 43 have their habitat in the country's waters. And just over a quarter of them are found in Patagonia. But Chile is also a country of salmon, occupying the second place in the world production, surpassed only by Norway. The overlap of the salmon industry with the habitat of these emblematic marine mammals represents a significant threat to cetaceans in Chile about which not enough is known.The recent deaths of three whales in protected areas of Chile's southern seas force us to ask ourselves why they are dying and how they are affected by the growing industry with which they share their habitat.Civil society is responding. In early November 2024, Greenpeace - together with the Kawésqar community Grupos Familiares Nómadas del Mar and with the support of AIDA - filed two criminal complaints against those responsible for the deaths of humpback whales in protected areas.These lawsuits, which have already been declared admissible, represent an unprecedented milestone in the country's criminal history, as they are the first take advantage of the amendaments made to the Penal Code by Law 21,595 on Economic and Environmental Crimes to the Penal Code to file a lawsuit for possible violations committed inside protected areas.In this context, AIDA, together with Greenpeace and the NGO FIMA - historical allies in the resistance to the expansion of salmon farming in the waters of Chilean Patagonia - commissioned a scientific report entitle “Cetaceans and Salmon Farming: Challenges for the Protection of Marine Biodiversity in Chilean Patagonia.”The report is currently available in Spanish, which lays out the available information on the impacts of salmon farming on the whales and dolphins of Chilean Patagonia. The results are alarming: serious risks have been identified, in addition to a lack of data that makes it difficult to understand the magnitude and consequences of the threats.One of the most evident impacts is the incidental capture of small and large cetaceans in farming centers. There are documented cases of entanglement and deaths, although the lack of official records makes it difficult to measure the severity of the problem.Another significant threat is the Intense maritime traffic in Patagonia, largely related to the salmon industry. Although there is no official data in Chile, there is evidence of deaths and serious injuries due to collisions between boats and whales. In addition, underwater noise from boat engines affects the health and well-being of the whales and dolphins, which depend on sound for communication and orientation.In addition to these, there are other problems of the industry, whose effects on whales and dolphins have not been adequately studied, but which we should consider while the studies are being conducted. One of these is the escape of salmonids, which compete with native species for food resources and may carry diseases that could affect smaller cetaceans in particular by reducing the availability of prey that serve as food.Microplastic pollution, 40 percent of which comes from salmon farming centers, is another under-researched environmental concern in terms of its impact on cetaceans. And the excessive use of antibiotics in Chilean salmon farming, one of the highest rates in the world, could be having negative indirect effects on the ecosystems that support these marine mammals.Finally, one of the most significant environmental impacts of the salmon farming in Chilean Patagonia is the generation of hypoxia and anoxia due to the excess of organic matter in the farming centers, coming from salmon feces and uneaten food that falls to the seabed. The decomposition of this matter consumes the oxygen in the water, creating zones in the sea where life becomes difficult or impossible.We hope that this report will fill the information gap that has become uncomfortable and even untenable in light of recent whale deaths.With this evidence, even in a scenario of limited knowledge, we will be able to encourage a governmental response towards the rapid implementation of effective protection measures for whales and dolphins in Chilean waters.Chile is a country of cetaceans, and as their guardians, we must ensure that our waters are a safe space for their development and well-being. Read and download the report (in Spanish)
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