The Chilean fishing industry may be affected if the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issues an adverse decision over the maritime boundary dispute between Chile and Peru.
The president of the Confederation of Production and Commerce (CPC), Andres Santa Cruz, pointed out so after meeting with the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alfredo Moreno.
However, the official stressed that “one must first see what the ruling says, then one can weigh the magnitude of the effects,” Diario Financiero reported.
Regarding the possibility that the ruling might be unfavourable for Chile, the leader urged to respect the decision.
“There is no favourable or unfavourable ruling; it is about two countries having decided to respect and abide by the ruling, as it expected from a serious country, with the history Chile has of being respectful of all legislation, decisions, regulations and standards. This is a permanent state policy of all Chileans,” he said.
Meanwhile, the president of the Society for Industrial Development (SOFOFA), Herman Von Mühlenbrock said that if Chile is not successful, it could lose areas close to the coast, “where the resource really is.”
“If we do fairly well, we may lose remote coastal areas, 200 miles away, where there are fewer resources. Let’s hope the outer triangle is all what we’ll lose, because that way there will be little effect on the fishing, as from what we understand the fishing percentage in that area is very low regarding the total,” said the business leader.
The sector is already “represented in the CPC through SOFOFA” and “the fishing enterprises belong to the Industrial Development Society, and we are working with them,” continued explaining Von Mühlenbrock, newspaper La Tercera reported.
Meanwhile, Roberto Angelini, president of Corpesca, believes that there is a risk that not only Chilean sovereignty might be undermined, but also the national maritime industry could be affected.
“We are concerned about the future judgment of the arbitration claim filed by Peru before the Court of The Hague, which aims to change the historical marine boundaries of Chile,” he said.
“An adverse ruling could affect between 70 and 80 per cent of the catch volume in the area of Arica. There is an estimated area catch volume roughly representing between 70 per cent and 80 per cent of what Arica fishing fleet fishes, which is within the triangle under dispute,” he said.
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