29 June, 2023

Preparation of a medium and long-term Strategic Plan for Small-Scale Aquaculture (APE) in Chile.

July 5th, 2023 Periodista Gabriela.Gutiérrez

The FIPA 2022-24 Project “Development of a Medium and Long-Term Strategic Plan for Small-Scale Aquaculture (APE) in Chile” is an initiative that was awarded to Fisheries Development Institute, in particular to its Repopulation and Culture Department, and is financed through Fisheries and Aquaculture Research Fund. This project is part of the strategic objectives of Undersecretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture (SUBPESCA) management for this period in matters of planning and positioning of the APE in Chile. Together with Small-Scale Aquaculture Regulation (D.S. Nº. 45/2021) and establishment of a National APE Table, the development of this project will allow the configuration of a roadmap with actions to be implemented and objectives to be met, which will allow to survey to the APE as a national aquaculture sector.

The project bases its operation and the achievement of results through the execution of multiple Workshops. These Workshops are instances of public-private participation, where actors and representatives of public institutions, such as SUBPESCA; SERNAPESCA, INDESPA, Regional Governments and representatives of the Academy, together with private actors (small-scale fish farmers) have been called upon to define the main opportunities and gaps currently facing the APE in Chile.

It is important to highlight that this project has a scope throughout the national territory, and in this sense aspires to raise different realities and problems faced by APE aquaculture farmers in Chile, both in Aquaculture Concessions, Management Areas and Benthic Resources Exploitation, private lands that make use of continental waters, as well as the potential crops to be developed in Coastal Marine Areas for Native Peoples and in Fishing Coves. In this way, it will be possible to represent the needs and fulfill various purposes to promotee APE’s development in Chile.

To date, two Workshops cycles have been developed. The first, carried out between the beginning of March and mid-April, was mainly oriented to identify APE’s main problems and potentialities in the different territories of the country. The second, in execution, since the beginning of June, focuses on APE’s identification of opportunities and gaps, in addition to collecting elements that allow shaping APE’s vision and mission for a national territory Strategic Plan.

In the coming months, public and private actors will be convened to define objectives and strategic actions that reflect the realities of the various territories of the country, identifying responsible parties and committed resources, in order to count by the end of 2023 or the beginning of 2024 with a Medium and Long Term Strategic Plan Design for the APE in Chile.

The photos show part of the work carried out in the workshops carried out throughout the national territory, between the months of March and June.