The prior step to amend the Lafkenche Law: Subpesca launches a $70 million tender to conduct indigenous consultation

Modifying the Lafkenche Law is the next major step that José Antonio Kast's government will take in fisheries matters, hand in hand with the Undersecretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Subpesca). Before submitting the amendments to Congress, which are at an advanced stage, the undersecretariat must carry out an indigenous consultation. And it is precisely for this purpose that on Friday Subpesca opened a public tender seeking to gather information on the territories and map the universe of indigenous communities and organizations that could be affected by the amendments to the Law. Its results will subsequently be used in the indigenous consultation. The process aims to identify the main actors and define the technical conditions for establishing dialogue with the communities. The name of the tender is as follows: "advisory services for the territorial characterization of the consultation process with indigenous peoples for the modification of regulations governing the coastal marine spaces of native peoples." The tender, which offers $70 million for the work, will close soon, next Monday, October 5. The Undersecretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Osvaldo Urrutia, tells Pulso that the government and the Undersecretariat of Fisheries seek to comply with the legislation and the international agreements that Chile has signed. "That is why we are opening this tender for the phase prior to the indigenous consultation, which will allow us to establish the phases of the consultation with seriousness, transparency, good faith and respect, so that we can then thoroughly review the Lafkenche Law and recover the spirit with which it was created," he says. Zones of the process The tender states that "indigenous peoples have the right to request the incorporation of professionals and technical advisors of their full trust to level the information asymmetry vis-à-vis the State." The process contemplates an information-gathering effort in practically all zones along the country: Arica, Tarapacá, Antofagasta, Atacama, Coquimbo, Valparaíso, O'Higgins, Maule, Biobío, La Araucanía, Los Ríos, Los Lagos, Aysén, and Magallanes. The counterpart of the process will be the head of the indigenous affairs coordination unit at Subpesca, Dayana Vélez, who will be responsible for oversight, inspection of execution, receipt and final evaluation of the reports. Urrutia said he seeks "to move toward a regulation that safeguards the rights and customary uses of native peoples, but also provides certainty and allows those rights to be made compatible with the various activities carried out along our coastline." International commitments The indigenous consultation must be carried out due to the international commitments the country has under Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization (ILO), which states that before initiating legislative projects that could affect communities, they must first be consulted. Although this consultation must be carried out, the results are not binding. The Lafkenche Law was enacted in 2008 and established a formula for creating coastal marine spaces of native peoples (Ecmpo) for environmental and indigenous conservation. It is precisely the communities that can request the constitution of an Ecmpo, which begins an administrative process to approve it or not. The problem has been that these procedures have stretched out for up to ten years, generating legal uncertainty for both the communities and aquaculture and fishing companies. On this, in May, Camanchaca's CEO, Ricardo García, told Pulso that "the Lafkenche Law does not affect only us, but everyone who carries out any kind of activity along the coasts, including the State. In other words, building a bridge or a port, granting a concession, or salmon farming and mussel farming, or anything else, is today blocked, obstructed by the abuse that has been made of the Lafkenche Law." He expressed that "what ultimately happened with the Lafkenche Law is as if we let a Godzilla loose in the middle of the city. What must be done now is to return the animal to its cage. That law, which is an animal, must be put in its cage so that it applies to what it really was meant to apply to, which is a minor thing that does not affect the rest." NEWSLETTER Pulso PM Monday to Friday, 12:30 PM The most relevant news on markets, companies and business: timely information, context and content to make better decisions. By subscribing you are accepting the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policies of La Tercera.