One of the main environmental threats to Patagonia; Chilean salmon, a highly contested pink gold

With its capricious weather, rocky coasts, legends and bright yellow gorse bushes, the island of Chiloé, located 1,000 km south of Santiago, is often compared to Brittany by the French who discover southern Chile. Like the French West, the Los Lagos region is also one of the country's main fishing centres, initially thanks to the richness of its marine biodiversity but today mainly due to the intensive farming of a species that is nevertheless non-native: the Atlantic salmon. Launched in the late 1970s by foreign investors attracted by the conditions favourable to farming - among other things, its myriad of estuaries, its pure and cold waters - this activity has indeed become particularly prosperous. With 774,531 tonnes of salmon and trout exported in 2023, mainly to the United States, Japan and Brazil, Chile can boast a growth of 47% in ten years and a comfortable position as world number two. This industry brought in nearly $6.5 billion in export revenue last year ...