Grunge band Pearl Jam and more than 120 organizations are asking Chile’s Congress to pass an environmental protection bill. The bill would also ban salmon farming. If it passes, a biodiversity public entity will coordinate social and industry actors.
US grunge band Pearl Jam urged Chile’s Congress to approve a biodiversity and protected areas bill, which would outlaw salmon farming too, as over 120 social organizations signed an open letter to promote approval.
The bill involves the creation of an ecosystem protection entity.
Via social media, Pearl Jam highlighted the harmful effects industrial salmon farming has on the oceans and other ecosystems. Salmon farming is a massive industry in south Chile. Last year’s exports totaled US$6.6 billion, according to Seafood Source.
In a tweet, the band urged decisionmakers to comply with commitments to biodiversity protection.
Protecting coastal biodiversity is vital to the survival of the oceans, and our own species. This International Day for Biological Diversity, we're sharing our growing concern about the impact of industrial salmon farms – which are impacting fragile marine ecosystems. … pic.twitter.com/EfiG9vsePO
— Pearl Jam 🇺🇦 (@PearlJam) May 22, 2023
“Today, your administration must define whether it commits to not granting new concessions for the exercise of salmon farming within protected areas, as indicated by the guidelines of The International Union for Conservation of Nature, in addition to complying with Chile’s commitment to the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15), in which your administration is committed to putting 30 percent of terrestrial and marine ecosystems under protection by 2030, a promise that could not be fulfilled if salmon farming continues to occupy coastal protected areas,” the organizations’ open letter addressed to President Gabriel Boric said.
If the bill passes, the resulting public entity would be the first to focus on biodiversity in protected and unprotected areas. The entity would be part of the Environment Ministry and coordinate among social actors and industries.
Currently, ecological protection efforts are managed by the ministries of agriculture, culture, economy, national assets, and environment.
The bill has been in Congress for more than 11 years.
Read more:
Patagonia salmon industry doing long-term damage to ecosystem
Chongyang Zhang is pursuing an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s program in journalism, media and globalisation. His interest lies in the relations among the United States, Latin America and China. He is currently doing an exchange semester at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.