Abstract

Throughout the manuscript we analyze the transformations of traditional economic systems, such as small-scale fishing systems, as some kind of ´temperature´ indicator of the expansion of transnationalized capital. Thus, the greater change, the greater loss of what is traditional, which equates to a kind of ´cooling´ of seashore communities due to the introduction of new technologies that are imposed without considerations about local conditions. It is evident that practices in such distant places as Chonos archipelago or the ones from the Puyuhuapi riverside’s fishermen little settlement are conditioned –to a higher or lower extent and in different ways– by the aforementioned expansion. But it is important to point out, that small-scale fishing in Aysén region ´cools down´ not only because of its internal dynamics but also, and above all, for being included –as economic activity– in a larger context, with explicit regulatory frameworks, involving intervention and negotiation of different parties led by the economical logic and sometimes diverging interests. Thus, the system of small-scale fishing related practices in Aysen Region constitutes a territorial laboratory to understand the role of several parties and competitions for the use and management of hydrobiological resources. Moreover, we analyze the significance of the global processes in traditional small-scale fishermen settlements in Southern Chile. We emphasize particularly the ethnographic and ethnologic description of small-scale fishing practices in coves of Islas Huichas, Puerto Cisnes and Puerto Melinka. With the aim to recognize as many common elements as distinctive features among these settlements, the productive activities linked to the sea itself and the involved management processes, we answer a triple question: how small-scale fishing is affected by the globalizing processes and which effects does the dissemination of new technologies have on these activities? Which role do local knowledge and ecological factors play in the artisan-fishing related activities? Which role does the State play in this process?