Abstract

In Latin America, governments have long promoted export-led growth as the national development strategy. In Chile, the salmon farming sector has managed to consolidate itself as the world's second largest producer with its production concentrated in pristine yet marginalized territories where conflicts emerge between communities and companies. Actors who oppose salmon farming emphasize environmental damage and territorial transformation, while actors who favor aquaculture highlight its contribution to economic development and food security due to depleting fisheries. Both positions reference scientific studies, indicating a conflict of cognitive frames. Considering these conflictive perspectives, this paper describes the co-construction strategy used to define a sustainable aquaculture policy in Central-Southern Chile based in the FAO’s eco-systemic approach that combines ecological, socioeconomic and governance dimensions. A fuzzy logic model was developed to combine scientific studies y gray literature with tacit knowledge obtained through 27 semi-structured interviews. This model was improved and validated through 12 workshops with different stakeholder groups to define the regional policy to promote small-scale sustainable aquaculture in small fishing communities. The discursive analysis of the interviews showed how the negative effects produced by export-led growth structures territorial positions to aquaculture. Our results suggest that 1) actors assigned more importance to societal, economic and political effects over environmental consequences and 2) an extractive past (in lumber plantations and fishing) inhibits imagining transformative alternatives to the current economic options.