Chile authorities block Stengel family-linked salmon farming project

The Environmental Assessment Commission of the Ñuble Region unanimously rejected the Inversiones Pelícano site.

A new salmon farm planned along Ñuble’s untouched coastline, the next region up from BioBio aka the heart of Chile’s salmon industry, has been blocked for the second time, according to Aqua.cl.

The ministerial regional secretary of the Environment (MMA), Patricio Caamaño Viveros, explained that “the company (Inversiones Pelicano) did not deliver the observations of the Consolidated Report of Clarifications, Rectifications or Extensions (Icsara) that was requested.”

This was the second salmon farming project of a total of eleven (which included salmon, mussels and other species) that the company presented for an environmental evaluation review between 2015 and 2016. The projects have been reportedly met with resistance by the local community as well as authorities.

In 1977, the German-born Stengel family formed Pesquera Bío Bío, a humble trawling company which has since gone onto become a Chilean fishing powerhouse. The company merged with Camanchaca in late 2011. Jan Stengel is the director of Camanchaca as well as its salmon operations at Salmones Camanchacha.

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