Natural Resource Curse

The concept that abundant natural resources can actually be detrimental to a country's economic development is counter intuitive.  It would seem that the harvest and sale of natural resources would be an overall economic benefit.  However, it has been shown in many cases that in economic dependence on large-scale exportation of natural resources can actual hinder a country's ability to thrive. The concept and case studies are pretty easy to find, and I'm no economist, so I won't get into that much here.  But I am an ecologist and it doesn't take much more than talking to local fisherman and looking at the surrounding hillsides in the Bio Bio region of Chile to understand that excessive natural resource extraction is not ecologically sustainable.

Mining is king in Chile and the major environmental impacts of extraction have well documented.  Here in Bio Bio the issues are fishing and forestry.  

This many boats tied up idle at the dock is never a good sign for the state of a fishery.  Sardine, anchovy, and jack mackerel stocks are depleted to the point that it's not even worth taking your boat out.

On virtually every hillside the native trees have been completely removed.  Non-native eucalyptus and Monterrey pine  now stand in neat rows sucking up outrageous amounts of water and nutrients.

 If it's not ecologically OR economically sustainable it's a very short sighted vision and truly is a curse.

Jessica

Saturday (1/4/14) we left Santiago in the morning.  There was a big plush tour bus rented for the 6 hour drive.  But at the last minute I jumped in with the car that was following behind.  This was me, Doug Ahlers who runs the program for Harvard, and Ned Strong who is a Harvard guy who has been living in Chile for 3 years working on this and other Harvard projects. It was cool to ride with them.  First of all, because I finally got a chance to find out what was expected of me!!  But also because I got to trade a lot of stories and talk about a lot of experiences and opportunities.

On Sunday our day was mapped out for us.  We all piled into a van and were given a guided tour of the region including the ports, fish markets, tourist spots, etc in towns that included Coliumo, Talcahuano, Punta Arco, Lenga, and others.

The highlight of that trip was our first stop... a mussel and oyster farm in Coliumo just across the bay from Dichato.  The farm is owned and operated by Jessica Cabrera Torres. It is almost a one woman operation, although her brother joined us on the trip and seems to be a key helper. Jessica is from a fishing family and grew up as a diver and fisherman.  In all of these roles she has had to battle for acceptance as a woman in a "machismo" culture.  If that wasn't hard enough she has decided to tackle the uphill battle of developing a whole new aquaculture industry in a region that is resistant to change.

But it's pretty obvious that Jessica has a clear vision. She wants to turn her products into a high end, gourmet offering that command a premium price.  She sees that this is the best way to be economically viable while staying small enough to be ecologically sustainable. She has seen the damage of overfishing and of the salmon farm boom and she doesn't want to make those same mistakes. It's also obvious that if anyone can pull this off it's Jessica. She has an magnetic personality (even if you can't speak her language), she is smart, and makes connections at every level from Universities to other fishermen.  In this area all you have to say is "Jessica" and everyone knows who you are talking about.