On Saturday, August 17, Francis Mallmann cooked for 500 people in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, off the Beagle Channel. It was not one of his classic eccentricities – we know Mallmann likes to set fires in unusual places – but an initiative of several NGOs (such as No Blue There Is Green) and the Patagonia brand to express its rejection of the installation of salmon in the waters you’re out of your stride. In addition to feeding hundreds of people throughout the day, the chef decided to remove salmon from the menus in his restaurants. He is not the only Argentine cook who decided to stand up to the advance of salmon farming: the same did Narda Lepes, Germán Martitegui, Mauro Colagreco and Fernando Trocca (to mention some of the best known figures) through strong messages on their social networks.
A year ago an agreement was signed between the national government, the government of Tierra del Fuego and Norway, to promote the development of salmon farming in the Beagle Channel. Thanks to the work and effort of many organizations, scientists and communities in various parts of the world, today we know that the intensive production of salmon, especially in places where the species is exotic, has irreversible consequences. The problem is not only environmental, but transcends the social, economic and health-related issues. It is both the impact and negative effect of this type of production that, for countries such as Norway, it is more feasible to seek new frontiers. The production policies and standards they must comply with in their waters are always stricter and more expensive than they can in less developed countries. Basically better to do it in the world’s &$, total no one complains. The Norwegians want to install it on the Beagle Channel and those who have the power to allow it are our representatives, as long as as as we do not demand otherwise. Unfortunately Chile is now an example of what happens if we let them in. We’ll tell you what the consequences of salmon farming are and what it means every time we send a sashimi to your mouth. We’re in time to slow down the industry, we all have to say #NoALaSalmonicultura
A shared publication of nardalepes (@nardalepes) on 22 Jan, 2019 at 3:20 PST
Where does this resistance come from and what does it aim for? Fundamentally, what the gastronomic community, protectionist organizations and animal rights and environmental care activists are proposed is to avoid the installation of salmon cages in the canal separating Argentina from Chile. “Each salmon cage is the size of a football field and a depth close to a 15-story building. From the air, they look like pools placed next to each other in the sea, but under water lies hell: thousands of salmon grow overcrowded and their faeces, urine and food that remain on the seabed. In just over a year, almost all the fauna and flora that lived there die,” explains, very rightly, the journalist Mar Centenera in a recent note from El País. In Chile, the salmon farming industry has been developing many years ago, becoming the second exporting country after Norway. The promise of companies interested in exploiting the Beagle (for its ideal characteristics for the reproduction and survival of salmon, a kind of cold water) is to generate employment and promote economic growth in the region. However, sources from the National University of Tierra del Fuego estimate that no more than 600 jobs would be created.
Photo: Patagonia
The chefs’ great first response, in early 2018, was a reaction to an agreement signed by President Mauricio Macri with the Norwegian Crown to conduct a “feasibility study” in the area, with the aim of eventually providing concessions to produce 20,000 to 50,000 tonnes of salmon off the Patagonian coast. There was no case: the social repudiation led to the Delibertant Council of Ushuaia banning any infrastructure for intensive salmon rearing in the municipality, and then the provincial government declared that the salmon issue was “off the agenda” and very far from being realized. “In the last 30 years I have cooked thousands of salmon,” Mallmann explained in front of the press last Saturday. Two or three years ago I started hearing some ‘noises’ from Chile because of the antibiotics they give them in the crop. I don’t think it’s ever too late to change.” In this note:
Salmon
salmoniculture
salmon
Ushuaia
Beagle Channel
Francis Mallmann
Chegusan
