By Alexander Villegas
VALPARAISO, Chile (Reuters) – Police tear gassed and hurled water from cannons at protesters in front of Chile’s national Congress in Valparaiso on Tuesday after a Senate commission delayed a vote on a controversial fishing law that seeks to redistribute quotas between artisanal and industrial fishers.
At least one police officer was injured and several people were detained after protesters knocked down a gate surrounding the building, attempting to enter Congress before being repelled by tear gas, water cannons and baton-wielding police in riot gear.
Reuters footage showed huge armored police vehicles spraying barrels of water at protesters carrying the Chilean flag.
Earlier in the day, a few thousand fishermen gathered at docks in Valparaiso to march to Congress to protest the law that they say favors a few industrial fishing companies. They carried banners that read “The Sea is Not For Sale,” in Spanish.
Hugo Poblete, a union leader for fishers in Quintero in central Chile, was one of the hundreds of fishermen gathered outside the building watching the Senate finance commission debate the new law on a large screen.
“The point being debated now is the fractioning, or percentages that each sector (artisanal and industrial) gets from different species,” Poblete said, adding that artisanal fishers had gotten a beneficial percentage when the law passed the lower house, including 70% for hake and 90% for cuttlefish, the two most important species for local small fishers.
Those percentages have been reduced as the bill made its way through the Senate, which artisanal fishers and unions view as favoring large industrial fishing companies, prompting them to protest. On Tuesday afternoon, the Senate commission agreed to postpone the vote and continue debate.
Police and protesters clashed soon after the decision, and police quickly tried to disperse protesters with tear gas and water cannons, prompting a group of protesters to fight back before riot police deployed in full force began detaining several protesters in the streets around Congress.
Chile’s Sonapesca, the organization that encompasses the country’s largest industrial fishing companies, did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
While debate continues tomorrow, the law can face further delays and legislative hurdles before it becomes law. Artisanal fishers say they’ll continue to fight for what they say are equitable fishing rights as they feel their way of life is dying out.
“It’s not just the fishers, it’s all the people related to the sea,” said Susana Olea, 55, who has worked as an artisanal fisher since she was a child and works helping fishers prepare bait in the southern fishing town of Lebu.
“It’s the buyers, the boat loaders, one boat might have four or five crew, but 10 or 15 bait workers and how many others?” Olea said.
“Three years ago, at this time in Lebu we were preparing bait, now we’re not working because there’s no Brama fish.”
Olea says artisanal fishers have seen the areas where they can fish reduced and would like to see cuttlefish declared 100% for artisanal fishers to help revive the industry.
(Reporting by Alexander Villegas; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
