Chiloé (Chile) and the coastal “red tide” : how an environmental crisis reveals social struggle

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Dijana Delic

University of Amsterdam

MSc International Development Studies

Chiloé (Chile) and the coastal “red tide”: how an

environmental crisis reveals social struggle

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Graduate School of Social Sciences MSc International Development Studies

Title: Chiloé (Chile) and the coastal “red tide”: how an environmental crisis reveals social struggle

Name: Dijana Delic Email: dijanadelic@hotmail.it

Date: 6th_{of November 2017}

UvA ID: 11211865 Word Count: 24,834

Course: Research Project IDS – Field Work and Thesis

Supervisor: J. Maarten Bavinck

Professor of Geography, Planning International Development Studies Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences

University of Amsterdam Netherlands

Second Reader: Joeri Scholtens

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Abstract

The archipelago of Chiloé, Chile, has traditionally hosted numerous artisanal fishing activities that are important to the local identity and economy. Driven by a common vision that maritime resources are a common-pool resource that must be preserved, these activities have coexisted for a long time. With the liberalization of the national economy in the ‘70s, extraterritorial private-sector actors developed the aquaculture industry in the archipelago and introduced a different vision: economic growth through natural resources exploitation. Through their strong influence, these new actors introduced changes to economic, environmental and social aspects of the region, upsetting the balance between human activities and marine resources.

To understand the conflict between activities in this multiple-use space, this thesis analyzed the recent episode of an unprecedented bloom of a harmful alga, colloquially known as the red tide, which threatened the continuity of some traditional activities and prompted the archipelago inhabitants to protest against the government and the aquaculture industry. Although this collective action indicates the social nature of a problem, authorities defined the bloom as environmental in origin. Drawing on political ecology theory, this thesis used the Problem-in-Context framework to understand how the environmental crisis is perceived by each resource user and collective action theories to make sense of the social conflict between old and new actors in Chiloé.

Based on participant observations and in-depth interviews with stakeholders directly and indirectly affected by the red tide, this study found that the algal bloom is perceived as a consequence of (i) industrial overproduction and (ii) government’s failure to acknowledge local interests. Therefore, the red tide episode reveals a broader problem of coastal grab, in which the coalition between the extraterritorial actors and the government prevails in decisions regarding the marine resource use over the local actors’ voice. These findings imply that environmental crisis should be understood by combining natural science with social understanding, as these two diverse realms are equally important.

Key words: problem-in-context framework, red tide, collective action, fishermen struggle, coastal grab, Chiloé.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Maarten for the trust he has given me in to freely explore a terrain that was unknown for both of us. His guidance and constant support were undoubtedly essential to the completion of this thesis.

I would also like to thank in a special way all people overseas, in Chile, for making my fieldwork an enriching experience and making me feel at home. Without their genuine help and engagement I would not have been able to gain the insight I have into this subject.

Finally, and most importantly, my thanks go to Senada, Denis and my entire family which has been growing over the years with relatives and friends. Despite the distance and the rare encounters, your relentless support and admiration for me are my greatest motivation.

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1 Introduction

When a harmful algal bloom colloquially called red tide appeared on the coast of Chiloé, Chile, in 2016, the coexistence between the stakeholders that benefit from the marine resources in the area was shaken and conflicting claims on the resources emerged: over three weeks, the Chiloé inhabitants engaged in massive protests, claiming their right to a healthy environment.

Within a regional context where the number of natural resource-based economies is growing, extraterritorial private-sector actors facilitate social, political, and economic changes to Latin America rural areas as well as Chile (Bebbington et. al. 2015; Ramírez et al., 2010). In recent decades, the pressure on ecosystems has increased in the region after newly settled private companies, often in partnership with the states and other national elites, began exploiting natural resources in response to the increasing global demand for consumer goods (TNI, 2014). These large private companies have been attracted by national policy reforms promoting external investments in the primary sector to achieve economic growth through the use of unexploited natural resources. While the new resource users contribute positively to the achievement of this goal (Bebbington et al., 2015; Ramírez et al., 2010), their settlement introduces power asymmetries in the rural regions where they operate: local actors claimed their interests were eclipsed by government development (Ramírez et al., 2009a).

To facilitate growth strategy, law reforms were needed to regulate access to natural assets, but in most cases, laws regulating asset management were left untouched. Evidence suggests that the undesired socio-environmental changes accompanying industrialization created societal frictions and motivated local actors to demand stricter regulation of the newly introduced activities. In Chile, where this phenomenon is also visible, the most famous case of investment in natural resource industry began in 1969 with an agreement between the Governments of Chile and Japan, which introduced the salmon business in the South American country1 (Amtmann and Blanco, 2001). Salmon aquaculture developed predominantly in the Los Lagos region, particularly in the inner sea of Chiloé due to its favourable water features, thus transforming its archipelago into the main pillar of the production.

1_{From late 1970s, the process will be led by the private sector driven by transnational investments}

and will lead Chile to become the world's second largest producer of salmon after Norway (Salmonchile.cl).

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Since the 1980s, the country has experienced social and economic growth due to the establishment of the industry. In Chiloé, salmon farming became the main source of waged labour. However, in early 2000, the negative impact of industry on the environment and society became visible and was subsequently confirmed by studies (Ramírez et al., 2010). By then, some members of the Chiloé society declared themselves unwilling to accept the situation.

The arrival of new economic actors, as demonstrated in literature (Bebbington et al. 2015; Mansilla Torres, 2009), is a source of imbalance for rural contexts. In countries that had adopted neoliberal economic principles, the introduction of industries based on the exploitation of natural resources in underdeveloped areas had often played a decisive role in altering the ecosystem (Neuscheler, 2014). In many cases, this prevented local actors from having access to needed resources (Steins, 1999). As the new strategies had brought economic growth to the countries, the authorities considered local interests as insignificant (Ramirez et al., 2009 a). In more complex situations, it was found that with the presence of multiple actors who benefit from connected resource systems, especially in maritime contexts, the interdependence of activities was damaging for all, and resulted in costly conflicts. Some scholars pointed out that the complexity of the interdependence between activities hinders the application of satisfactory resource management solutions (Schlüter and Partelow, 2017), while others suggest that the non-inclusion of all stakeholders in the resource management planning perpetuates conflicts (Laws et al., 2014). In the Latin American context, Bebbington et al. (2015) suggest that poor regulation of resource use is generally at the root of social conflicts in territories that have seen the recent establishment of an industry which heavily exploits natural resources, and that the role of the state in promoting these poor regulations is decisive. Thus far, positive changes in regulations on the use of resources have only been made in situations where the environmental crisis threatened company profits and which have not responded to complaints from other, often socio-politically weaker, actors (Bebbington et al., 2015). In some exceptional cases, regulatory change resulted from collective actions, but there is little knowledge of the factors that drive disadvantaged actors in marine environments to react to improve their condition (Scholtens, 2016). Knowledge about the Chiloé case is still lacking. Until now, studies have focused on explaining the success of the salmon aquaculture industry (Bolman, 2007; Barret et al., 2002; Ramírez et al., 2009a), the effects this had on other activities in the regions

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(Amtmann and Blanco, 2001) and the role industry played in changing the ecosystem services and creating an uneven distribution of wealth (Outerio and Villasante, 2013). The literature indicates that knowledge of the essence of the difficult coexistence between new and old economic actors in a rural context is still imprecise and calls for further studies.

The present research on the subject aims to improve knowledge of the causes of conflicts between local actors and extra-territorial actors in contexts of massive industrialisation and rapid economic growth generated by natural resource exploitation. The ultimate aim of the research is to contribute to the knowledge to effectively resolve conflicts or even prevent them.

Since last year, a bloom of a harmful microalgae, which is new to the context, halted the shellfish business of Chiloé, which is a traditional local activity in the area and a source of income for a significant number of people. The inhabitants of the archipelago responded by engaging on an 17-day strike to condemn the industrial practices and urge the government to recognise their interests in the area. Currently, local actors have restricted access to the resource, and while authorities define the problem as being environmentally generated (The Guardian, 2016), the high civic commitment suggests social origins.

The dependency of the people of Chiloé on their territory is present in all aspects of their daily lives and encouraged conscious and sustainable resource use in the environment throughout generations. This balance between human activities and natural resources has been disrupted with the arrival of a new actor (the salmon aquaculture industry) whose activity affects society and environment and is therefore believed to cause the unequal access to resources between actors, leading to dissatisfaction among fishermen. Thus, it seems appropriate to research the nature of the problem starting from each actor’s perception of it, so that a true definition of people’s discontent towards this conflicting coexistence is reached. Therefore, this research aims to approach the initial steps of a problem investigation (through problem analysis where local activities and social perceptions are central to it), within a larger frame of problem solving.

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Figure 1-1: Chile and the Chiloé province. Source: Adapted from Google Maps.

1.1 Research Questions

The following supposition underlies the thesis: if the problem in Chile was merely due to natural causes, there would not be such community commitment in Chiloé to engage in such a costly protest.

This research purposes to understand the nature of the social conflict between new and old marine resource users present on the coast of Chiloé by studying the current environmental crisis that affects the archipelago and how this is understood by the different actors.

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Given the present environmental crisis in the archipelago of Chiloé, how do multiple stakeholders perceive and struggle to practice their rights to use marine space and how do they interact?

To address the topic, the principal question is accompanied by sub-questions:

1. How is the current environmental problem explained by the various stakeholders and according to which interests and antecedents (prior events) do they understand the context in that specific way?

2. What are the options and motivations behind the practices over the marine space performed by the various stakeholders before and after the appearance of the environmental crisis?

3. What is the relevance of collective action within the interactions between actors, how do these interactions look and how do the power relations shape them?

4. How and according to which strategy has the government reacted to the conflict and, beyond the short-term solutions, what are the premises for possible long-term strategies to reorganize sea resource use and access?

1.2 Research Aim

This study provides insight that contributes to the identification of factors that hinder the coexistence between Chiloé people and the salmon farming industries. Furthermore, these findings could be used in other research aimed at understanding similar contexts. This research also contributes to collective action studies, which could study the conditions that mobilize disadvantaged groups in fisheries to improve their state.

1.3 Chapter Outline

The research was carried out in a period of five months in 2016, of which three were spent in the field. The information was gathered from field observations, national and international newspapers, structured or semi-structured interviews with key actors and other relevant sources, conversations with civil society members, analysis of official written statements and policy documents by the authorities (see chapter 3).

The next chapter provides the theoretical foundations of this study. The third chapter explains and justifies the research methodology chosen for data collection.

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Chapter four offers details about the research context and focuses on historical economic and cultural aspects. Chapter five reports the data obtained from the application of the Problem-in-Context (henceforth PiC) framework for the analysis of the red tide problem, while chapter six responds to the need for a deeper understanding of the problem by reporting the data of the collective action analysis. Finally, chapter seven provides the discussion of the data and the conclusion.

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2 Theoretical Framework

This chapter begins with an overview of how political ecology addresses the study of environmental problems. Immediately thereafter, the Problem-in-Context framework is presented, which was chosen to translate the theoretical approaches of political ecology into concepts useful for the objective of this thesis. Finally, the chapter concludes with an explanation of the collective action theories used to deepen the understanding of the social sphere of the red tide problem.

2.1 Political Ecology Approach to Environmental Problems

This research deals with the interdependence between environment and development (Bryant, 1992: 12), a topic that was widely studied by political ecologists examining social, political and economic drivers (Adams, 2009). In the context of the recent environmental problem emerging in Chiloé, development paths in the region are questioned, especially those that support(ed) the salmon farming industry.

Political ecology investigates the relationship between society and nature, questioning traditional scientific and environmental management views (Neumann, 2009 a: 229). Since there are multiple approaches to political ecology, it is impossible to provide a uniform set of theories and concepts in which all the scholars are identified (Bryant, 1992; Neumann, 2009 a). In a recent article, Neumann (2009a) states that the discipline arises from ecology and political economy, and he therefore considers environmental problems as inherently social and political problems. Moreover, he affirms that there is a consensus among scholars in interpreting the relation between nature and society building on the knowledge provided by non-equilibrium ecology and post-structural social theory. The post-structural social theory suggests that the debate between the realist and relativist view of nature indicates that a part of reality exists independently from the social knowledge of it. Thus, political ecology argues that what we know about nature is not reality, but a representation of it, and the discourse analysis facilitates exploring the multiple ideas of environment, or environmental problem, that constitute the social construction of nature (Neumann, 2009 a: 229). Furthermore, post-structuralism does not make use of a priori knowledge (as structuralism does) in order to avoid simplistic causal explanations about environmental problems (Forsyth, 2008). Concerning non-equilibrium ecology, it

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acknowledges the impossibility of maintaining a long-term balance in nature and thus the events that would have been defined as disturbance to the equilibrium are now considered a necessity, and ecological change is perceived as being integral to the system’s functioning (Neumann, 2009 a).

Within political ecology, it is important to understand how the relationship between nature and society is conceptualized, how rights to access and use the environment are managed and how costs and benefits are distributed. Neumann (2009, b) argues that power relations are central to political ecology since much attention has been given to access and control of natural resources in the discipline. In his work on transboundary fisheries, Scholtens (2016: 24) approaches the concept of access to a resource in terms of “ability to access” and “right to access”. The rights-based approach comprises the right to access physically the resource and the right to withdraw the products of the resource, but the right to access does not always entail a concrete ability to benefit from the resource (2016). Building on this view, Scholtens (2016) makes a further consideration: a change in the environment can affect the resource health and thus the ability to access that resource. Political ecology looks for explanations about the access inequalities, questioning the role of socio-political factors in addition to environmental ones, and thus assumes strength as a theoretical approach to the case of Chile. The politicization of environmental issues arises from the acknowledgment of inequalities in the access to a resource and thus there is an interest to understand how disadvantaged people “engage in collective action to challenge power relation” (Scholtens, 2016: 34).

A core aspect of the relationship between society and nature is the interaction between actors in relation to the resources provided by the environment. Steins (1999) further elaborate this interaction in the book Hands on Deck. She argues that in the case of resources under a multiple-use regime, as it is the case of the sea space around Chiloé, the various activities are interconnected (Steins, 1999: 6-7) and the set of regimes that manages the multiple stakes hardly considers their interdependency (Steins, 1999: 11). This allows the activities to impact one another adversely (Steins, 1999: 7) and creates the preconditions for a conflict (Scholtens, 2016). In the article “Hot adaptation”, Laws et al. (2014) argue that conflict is unavoidable in a context of multiple use of a natural resource. This happens especially when the primary enjoyment of the resource is denied, in other words, its

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access (Scholtens, 2016). Similar to Scholtens, Sikor and Lund (2009) suggest that the right to use a resource does not ensure access to the resource.

Steins (1999) proposes a collective resource management to solve the problems that arise in a multiple-use space, and she calls for more studies on stakeholder interaction. In order to understand the actors’ motivation, it is necessary to examine their views on the environment functions and to understand the role of contextual factors in shaping actor activities and interactions (Steins, 1999: 45). Steins asserts that contextual factors are a key element in re-establishing “the rules of the game” for natural resource use (1999: 57). In addition, she suggests that investigating interaction between actors and between actors and environment is fundamental in studying actors’ activities because these shape their strategies (1999).

When political ecologists call for studying the interaction between people, they perceive power as playing a central role in the relation between people, places and resources (Scholtens, 2016). Power is defined as “a social relation built on the asymmetrical distribution of resources and risks” (Paulson et al., 2003: 205) and knowledge about power relations can emerge from the analysis of the access rights. Political ecology embraces a somewhat critical approach towards development and the way development discourses have shaped environment use. It argues that development enforced the power and authority of the state over local communities instead of pursuing a real improvement of those communities. Therefore, political ecology supports the view that development should be managed from the bottom and should follow the particular conditions posed by culture and tradition (Neumann, 2009a). According to Blaikie’s approach to political ecology, participatory research is necessary to empower socially vulnerable actors that are delegitimized in the dominant environmental narratives. Thus, environmental knowledge is co-produced with social values and opportunities for new and fair development is given (Forsyth, 2008).

To sum up, political ecology acknowledges the importance of understanding an environmental problem as it is understood by each actor involved and thus moves beyond the technical explanations given by scientists to influence people's perception of the environment, questioning the role of culture and identity, together with history and power relations in the narratives they offer (Neumann, 2009 a). Environmental problems are triggered also by political and economic factors at multiple levels, from local to national and global (Adams, 2009: 205),

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thus the state and international institutions have to be taken into account as actors. As political ecology does not provide fixed frameworks (Bryant, 1992), the researcher must identify one that suits the study’s intentions.

2.2 Problem-in-Context

In line with the argument offered by political ecologists, the Problem-in-Context (PiC) framework elaborated by De Groot (1998) appears to be a useful tool to guide the process of deconstruction and explanation of environmental problems, which is the intention of this research. This framework argues that in order to understand and solve an environmental issue, it is fundamental to understand people, their institutions and to provide insights about the value they give to environmental functions (Kessler, 2003: 28). The actor-oriented approach follows the actors’ perspective, reconstructing the way the individuals (or groups of people) build their perception of reality and the arenas in which this process takes place (Kessler, 2003). Furthermore, this focus on actors recognizes the diversity between multiple and often conflicting views.

Environmental problem, which has a central role in the PiC framework, is defined as the divergence between norms (a set of standards that define the optimal situation) and reality (the actual situation) (Kessler, 2003: 28). The social entities that play a role in causing or solving the environmental problem are labelled as actors (they can be individuals or institutions) and among the actors, Kessler (2003) distinguishes some that directly depend on the environmental functions, called stakeholders, and others who are indirectly dependent.

Before describing the steps required to apply efficaciously the PiC framework, it is useful to examine the fundamental principles that Tsetse and De Groot (2009) suggest are central to such theoretical approach: (a) the interdisciplinary method that connects multiple scientific fields; (b) the causal chain approach that through a “progressive contextualization” of the problem allows to understand the causes and in turn the causes behind these; (c) the system principle that consent to discover how the things are interrelated, interlinked and interdependent; (d) a highly participative governance of environmental management; (e) sustainability. Tsetse and De Groot, however, focused their study to extend the PiC framework into the Opportunity and Problem in Context (OPiC) by including opportunities to solve the environmental problem (2009). Thus, they structure the framework as follows:

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1. problem analysis and explanation;

2. opportunity analysis or option identification;

3. design, evaluation, implementation and monitoring of an environmental management strategy.

Given the time and knowledge limits, I chose to use the PiC framework and thus focus on the problem analysis and explanation.

The problem analysis and explanation allows identification of the reasons behind an environmental problem. The analysis is based on mapping the causal chains that create the problem using a systematic approach called ‘progressive contextualization’ in which the researcher has to define where the problem begins and where it ends along the causal chain. To progressively contextualize the reasons behind the causes of the environmental problem at hand, it is necessary to examine three main aspects, summarized in the figure 2.2-1: the biophysical chain, the social chain and the normative aspects (Kessler, 2003: 29). Tsetse and De Groot (2009) suggest organizing the problem analysis in four steps:

1. Activity analysis: realized before starting the analysis of the problem and useful to understand the human activities practiced on the specific area under examination;

2. Normative context: since the environmental problem is defined as a “discrepancy between what the world is and what the world should be” (Tsetse and De Groot, 2009: 23), the normative context reflects on the values that form the norms that have been violated. This phase is useful when the research aims to understand why the actors perceive a certain event as a problem and how this perception is related to people’s values. As argued by Kessler, the values behind norms cannot be discussed; they are principles given by nature and their validity changes in time, space and also among different actors coexisting in the same context (2003: 32-33);

3. Ecological context: derives from the problem analysis and helps to understand the capacity of the ecosystem to regenerate;

4. Social context: features during the problem analysis and examines how the human actions directly affect the environment.

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Figure 2.2-1: The PiC framework analyses problems looking at the ecological, social and normative contexts. Source: Adapted from Tsetse (2008).

The analysis of the social context, which is central to this research, consists of mapping the problem starting from the human activities that directly impacted the environment and could be considered the primary actions that caused the problem (Tsetse and De Groot, 2009: 26). What follows is a phase in which the researcher wants to offer a reason for the action of the primary actor and is guided by two main questions: What can the actor do? What does the actor want to do? These questions explain the options and the motivations of the actors. Thus, the actions of the primary actors are guided by options and motivations, which in turn are influenced by the actions of other actors. These secondary actors do not have a direct role in creating the environmental problem, but their actions, as well steered by motivations and options, affect the primary actors. Tsetse and De Groot suggest that the actors’ field provide the tools to investigate in depth how each actor makes its own decisions (2009:27). To proceed in this way, the options can be better analysed when broken down in potential options and autonomy, and the motivations into objective motivations and cultural interpretation of the objective motivations. Then it is possible to understand how the actors’ activities are embedded in culture and society. Since the context of Chiloé reveals that some stakeholders have been affected by the problem without (apparently) causing it,

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the same exercise of mapping primary and secondary actors will be carried out for them.

In accordance with the political ecology view that humans’ actions have a role in creating environmental problems, the PiC framework and its actor-oriented approach (Steins, 1999) appears to facilitate understanding the position of the various actors in a multiple-use space, as the case of the archipelago of Chiloé appears to be. Drawing on the previous statements about the importance of understanding the various narratives behind a problem that involves multiple stakeholders (Laws et al., 2014), Tsetse and De Groot stress the significance of “getting a full grip on the environmental problem” (2009) to describe the “‘problem block’ to a degree of accuracy, certainty and balance that fits the needs of the stakeholders and general professional ethics.” (2009: 25). The following schema (figure 2.2-2) represents a more detailed approach to the problem analysis.

Figure 2.2-2: The figure provides in detail how the discrepancies between human activities, environmental capacity and norms work. Source: Tsetse (2008).

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Various authors that promote the PiC framework, emphasise the need to understand and explain environmental problems in a manner that includes the local knowledge and the local perspectives about the issue, where values are recognized as important in shaping actors’ perspectives (De Groot, 1998; Kessler, 2003; Tsetse and De Groot, 2009). To do so, participatory methods are widely suggested and in the case of collecting contrasting versions about the problem, more than one “problem analysis may have to be accepted” (Tsetse and De Groot, 2009: 25). The PiC framework appears to be a valid tool for the purpose of this research. Similar to political ecologists, it understands the conflicts as events that require a more complex explanation then that offered by the theory of resource scarcity (Homer Dixon, 1995) or the theory of shrinking pie (De Soysa, 2002). Within conflicts studies, political ecology emphasises the need to investigate the power relations and the eventual opportunity that the conflicts offer to reorganize these relations in a more equitable manner. In this regard, political ecologists resemble Laws et al. (2014) perspective regarding conflicts as a fertile moment for initiating a social change that foresees the need to create flexible solutions where the totality of stakeholders are included in the process of discussion and implementation of the change. In this sense, political ecology honors the ethical concerns present in a conflict (Neumann, 2009 a: 232-233) and adopts the concepts of justice and environment as they are constructed by the actors involved. Although the political ecology approach to environmental problems could appear relativist, Blaikie (Forsyth, 2008), who is considered one of its founders, acknowledges the necessity to include realism narratives offered by natural scientists. Thus, the way political ecology gains knowledge of the world is contextual, it does not neglect the value of objective interpretations of it but recognizes how social constructivism explains the world.

In the context of salmon aquaculture industry in Chile, Barton and Fløysand (2010) highlight how political ecology approach shifted the focus from the economic imperative of the 1980s and 1990s to the recent need to accommodate social and environmental necessities. Despite the normative progress made by the country relating to social and environmental issues in the aquaculture industry management, Barton and Fløysand (2010) argue that the system has been weak in applying it. This created problems relating to the working conditions and the environmental health, and finally conflicts erupted between old and new stakeholders (Neuscheler, 2014). Given that the context chosen hosts a multitude of

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activities, in contrast with the rest of the archipelago where the livelihood of the majority of the population depends on artisanal fishing, it is interesting to understand what motivated all the people to join a collective action in the name of small-scale fishermen. Mapping the actors around the problem will provide a deep insight about the actors’ perception of the problem and their proposed solutions to it. In addition, this research aims to identify all the stakeholders occupying a central position in deciding the future development of the archipelago. In fact, Barton and Fløysand (2010) understood that since economic progress showed its negative outcomes in Chile, the power relations are discussed and a new set of actors (such as NGOs, media, civil society organizations, etc.) plays a role in the future development of the country. The authors call for more studies on the role of these emerging actors and suggest implementing the political ecology approach to do so.

The motivation to use the PiC framework is well expressed in the words of Kessler: “instead of analysing biophysical systems or political-economic systems, the process is one of gradually building up insight on interconnections, largely through a causal chain approach that has a broader application than a systems approach. If properly done one will encounter political, economic, historical events and factors that determine the motivations of actors. The process can clarify conceptual confusion, which often is at the basis of conflicts: which are empirical facts, subjective assumptions, views or normative perceptions? As such, this approach is more comprehensive than the commonly-applied ‘problem tree’.” (2003: 33-34).

In conclusion, this research builds on the centrality of the interactions between society and nature in changing the environment as argued by political ecologists (Neumann, 2009 a). However, it aims to understand this interaction by focusing on a new set of actors from those usually studied by this discipline. After acknowledging the importance of understanding the relation between poverty and environmental degradation in political ecologists studies (Adams, 2009), we now investigate the role of actors in similar situations of environmental change. To do so, a map of the actors around the environmental problem will be designed using the Problem-in-Context framework. Moreover, the actors’ perspective regarding the problem will be addressed through an actor-oriented approach.

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2.3 Collective Action

Collective action theory has been developed for understanding different societal phenomena. On one hand, we refer to a self-organized group where all members jointly manage the resource (Ostrom, 1990); on the other hand, we refer to events such as protests and social mobilizations aimed at contesting the power relations behind unequal resource use and access (McAdam, 1999; Peet and Watts, 1996; Scholtens, 2016; Tarrow, 2011; van Zomeren et al., 2008). In this thesis, attention is given mainly to the latter.

When Piven (2008) aimed to justify the power behind the achievements of political protestors against authorities, she discovered that the predominant perspectives on power could not explain the nature of such influence that was bringing change satisfying the grievances of the bottom of the societies. She proposed the theory of “interdependent power” according to which people without “things, status or wealth” are able to obtain institutional changes if they enact their interdependent power that is based on cooperative and social relationships. In other words, Piven (2008) argues that resource-poor actors can change the world while pursuing their needs against institutional rules if they use their cooperative relations to concert action against better-equipped opponents.

Cases of collective action from all over the world have been studied widely to understand why, and in a second moment how and when (van Zomeren et al., 2008), do people engage in mobilization to obtain social changes. Within social movement studies, collective action is perceived as its “irreducible unit” (Tarrow, 2011) as it is the means that every ordinary person has to demonstrate his/her demands against resourceful actors. Nevertheless, collective action episodes, as protests, may occur even without being backed by organized social movements and still have positive impacts on the identification of the participants within the disadvantaged group or initiate a new landmark in history (della Porta, 2008). In the context of multiple actors depending on interconnected marine natural resources, collective action in the form of protests, strikes and demonstrations may challenge established schemes of resource use. In fact, due to power asymmetries between diverse actors and multiple levels of institutions, the control over natural resources is often unequally distributed among its users. Finally, disadvantaged

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groups of users engage in collective action to contest2_{the established systems and} to ensure their livelihood. In other words, contentious collective action is the strategy that resource-poor groups use against better-equipped opponents in order to change a group-related problem (Scholtens, 2016; Tarrow, 2011).

Contentious collective action has been widely studied by social scientists and McAdam, Tarrow and Tilly (2007) summarized the main schools of thoughts of the second half of the past century. In the 1960s, structuralist was the dominant approach to contentious politics. The “political opportunity structure” considered political processes to incentivize mobilization. Shortly thereafter, shared grievances were denied to be a sufficient explanation for the rise of contentious politics and the new assumption that individuals are rational actors more interested in personal rather than collective gains determined the shift to a rationalist approach to the field. Central to this approach is the “resource mobilization theory” per which the precondition for collective mobilization is the organization of people and resources (McCarthy and Zald, 1977). In the 1990s, a new shift emerged in the study of collective action towards more constructivist understandings of contention. In fact, became relevant among scholars the study of how collective meanings and cultural understandings are negotiated and produced within social movements. In other terms, scholars became interested in the cognitive processes behind the construction of a common identity among people in the collective action field.

To sum up, besides the relevance of political opportunities (Meyer, 2004; Tarrow, 2011) and organizational capacities, the success of collective mobilization depends on the strategic use of frames (Bröer and Duyvendak, 2012; McAdam et al., 2007). This brief overview of the literature demonstrates that predictors of collective action are multiple and have hardly been considered comprehensively when studying mobilization.

Under the assumption that “people respond to a subjective sense of disadvantage” rather than to objective conditions, van Zomeren et al. (2008) propose a model that predicts collective action by considering three variables from the socio-psychological dimension of protest. Hereby, the three key predictors of collective action that will be used to evaluate the protests in Chiloé in chapter 6 are explained.

Perceived Injustice: When people that experience group-based deprivation or inequality perceive their condition as unjust, they develop shared emotions such as

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anger towards the dominant group that promotes the inequality. The emotional perception of injustice can make them engage in collective action (van Zomeren et al., 2008). To a certain extent, it is the unfairness of the disadvantaged state of a group compared to others that motivates the group to collectively redress their condition. Especially among fisher communities, fairness and justice are subjective concepts whose exact meaning should be examined within each societal group (Bavinck and Johnson, 2008).

Perceived Efficacy: According to van Zomeren et al. (2008), people mobilize when they believe that group action can change their disadvantaged situation. Many scholars have studied what nourishes the sense of group efficacy. The theory of resource mobilization suggests that the ability to self-organize, accumulate resources and involve external actors’ support (e.g., NGOs, labour unions, international organizations or media) can boost the perception of efficacy, making it more likely to engage in collective action. In other words, perceived “efficacy refers to a sense of control, influence, strength and effectiveness to change a group-related problem” (ibid., 513).

Social Identity: According to van Zomeren et al. (2008), people identify themselves as members of a disadvantaged group because they are conscious of the importance of this relationship to improve their condition and because of their emotional ties to the group. This membership called social identity is not simply given by the circumstances but is rather constructed and actively embraced by each of its members. Social identity is a predictive causal element of mobilization because “(p)oliticized identity (…) connects people to the structural plight of the disadvantaged group, resulting in an “inner obligation” to participate in social movement activities” (ibid. 507).

2.4 Problem Statement

The appearance of the red tide on the coast of Chiloé has caused a local economic-productive crisis, the damages of which reverberate across the nation and beyond. The origins of this phenomenon have been identified by the authorities as being linked to the oceanographic changing conditions in the territory, yet adequate scientific understanding of the event is still lacking. On the other hand, political ecology scholars argue that a proper study of the environmental problem must examine at natural-based changes as much as at the externalisation of human activities. In this regard, the Problem-in-Context framework suggests including four

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elements in the analysis of the problem: the analysis of stakeholders’ activities, the social context, the normative context, the ecological context. A partial understanding of the problem could compromise the implementation of an effective solution capable of ending the social struggle experienced by some stakeholders. Therefore, to understand correctly the nature of the problem affecting Chiloé and its inhabitants, it is crucial to address the above-mentioned determinants and to draw meaning from the collective mobilizations that took place in the name of red tide.

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3 Research Methodology

Firstly, this chapter offers an overview of the research locations. Secondly, the research design chosen for the study is provided together with a careful explanation of the qualitative methods used to collect and analyse data. The chapter ends discussing research ethics and limitations.

3.1 Research Locations

The research took place in the municipalities of Castro, Curaco de Vélez, Dalcahue and Quinchao which are located in the central east of the Chiloé archipelago, in the province of Chiloé. This province belongs to the region of Los Lagos3_{, which alone} is responsible for 70% of the shellfish production consumed in the country (Hernández, 2016) despite representing only 4,8% of the national population (INE, 2013). Although the 2016 red tide bloom also affected other provinces in the Region, Chiloé was the only case that presented massive protests capable to reach a wide audience and inform the nation of the ongoing environmental crisis.

Figure 3.1-1: Research locations. Source: Adapted from Google Maps.

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The area of study was decided by choosing a place where fishing became a minor activity leaving room for the development of services. This place was chosen because the study aims to explain why the red tide bloom has also been a problematic event for the totality of the people of the archipelago4_{and not only to} the ones employed in the marine activities. Furthermore, the waters pertaining to Castro were biologically not affected by the red tide (SEREMI, 2016), making it more significant to understand the reason its people engaged in the mobilizations, regardless of that fact.

The chosen municipalities were selected among the ones that formed the working table of Castro5_{and negotiated with the government the terms to end the protests.} Although initially I planned to focus on all the municipalities involved in the negotiations, time constraints led me to choose the ones easier to access: first I obtained contacts of fishing associations’ leaders from the municipalities, then through addresses, phone numbers and help from the interviewees I was able to reach more people. The information was collected from (see also figure 3.1-2):

● Eight fishing associations of which four are situated in the Isla Grande of Chiloé (Nercon, Castro, Dalcahue, Punta del Piojo) and four in islands in the inner sea of Chiloé (Curaco de Vélez, Quehui, Chelín, Palqui), each formed of 10 to 20 men and women of various ages;

● Non-registered and unorganized indigenous fisherfolk in Rauco, Rilán and Llingua;

● Salmon producers’ association SalmonChile based in Puerto Montt (170 km from Castro);

● Mussel producers’ association AmiChile based in Castro; ● Castro fish market, composed of 34 tenants.

4_{The entire population of the archipelago engaged in 17 days of protest in spite of its high costs,}

thus the role of explaining the problem is taken as of great importance in this thesis (see research questions).

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Figure 3.1-2: Detail of Castro area. Source: Adapted from Google Maps. As opposed to the central east, the fishing activities in the north, south and central west of the archipelago represent a major source of income for those territories. In a few occasions I interviewed fishermen and civil society members from the associations of Cucao6_{(west) and Ancud (north), located out of my research area} (see figure 3.1-1), looking for affected groups that could also be found in my setting and were missing in my study.

3.2 Research Design, Epistemology and Unit of Analysis

Given the purpose of understanding how diverse marine resource users see the environmental crisis, the research relies on a qualitative mixed-method design where semi-structured interviews and participant observations are the main sources of gathering information.

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The unit of analysis consists of each group of resource users that consider itself directly or indirectly affected by the red tide. The unit of observation is each individual representative of these groups.

One of the motivations for this study was the interest to unravel why all inhabitants of the archipelago engaged in mobilizations in concomitance with the red tide event. Through study of newspapers and official documents, it was found that the available information only reported the views of authorities. In addition, the working tables formed between affected actors and government excluded some stakeholders and interest groups, shadowing their opinions about the crisis. These factors contributed to my will to complement the knowledge of the problem with these undocumented views. As development scholars argue, sustaining selective knowledge production where certain views about reality remain unrecognized infers in power relations and perpetrates inequality (Tucker, 1999). Hence the effort to widen the diversity of groups in this study.

3.3 Methods and Rationale of Data Collection

The study of social mobilizations is recognized “as a field of knowledge (that) favored the development of methodological pluralism, with a dialogue between different epistemological approaches and frequent triangulations of methods” (della Porta, 2014). While the field provides a considerable amount of techniques to collect data, I chose to primarily use interviews and participant observations, accompanied by an extensive review of scientific papers and media content from AQUA7_{, El Insular}8_{, La Estrella de Chiloé}9_{, Radio Nahuel}10_{, together with articles} published by local independent institutions such as the Centre of Social Studies of Chiloé (CESCH). The information obtained from the reviews served to corroborate findings and to provide useful insights for the discussion. In addition, field notes have been taken throughout the fieldwork.

3.3.1 Semi-Structured Interviews

This study relies mainly on semi-structured interviews, which proved to fit my need to understand the reasons behind different perceptions among the actors. Blee and

7_{Aquaculture and fishing magazine.} 8_{Local newspaper.}

9_{Local newspaper.} 10_{Local radio.}

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Taylor (2002, 95) state that “through semi-structured interviewing, researchers can gain insight into the individual and collective visions, (..) expectations, critique of the present, and projection of the future”. In addition to these advantages, in this study this technique allowed understanding when an individual perception matched a group view. Also, having interviewees leading the conversation seemed to provide more truthful information.

When interviewing highly affected actors, initial questions were kept similar to enable comparison between perceptions, later on the conversation evolved towards a broader understanding of each case.

The initial interviews targeted people that were indirectly affected by the crisis and easily accessible to provide a local overview of the scenario: local journalists from radio and newspaper presented me with a general picture of the events related to the protests and the groups involved and experts in local history and culture provided me with insights about the historical, economic and cultural character of the region. The effort to understand the peculiar identity and culture of the inhabitants of Chiloé was fostered by readings done in preparation for the research and, above all, by spontaneous conversations with Chilean friends and NGO members. These arguments indicated the need to understand how the industrialization in the ‘70s is linked to the 2016 crisis.

The rest of the interviews were conducted with key representatives of directly or indirectly affected groups and secondary actors that were reported as playing a significant role in the problem. In total, 47 interviews have been carried out. The following tables divide the interviewees per domain.

Private Domain (number of interviews)

Leaders and members of fishermen associations around Castro 14

Castro fish market vendors 3

Leaders and members of indigenous fishing groups - unorganized

3 Representatives from salmon and mussel industry associations 3

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Public Domain (number of interviews)

Health Authority (SEREMI - Castro Office) 1

Under Secretariat of Fishing and Aquaculture - Puerto Montt Office (Ministry of the Economy)

1 Castro municipality officers: development and tourism

departments

2

Groups of Interest (number of interviews)

Leaders and members of Civil Society 5

Chief of Castro Chamber of Commerce 1

Others (number of interviews)

Journalists 2

Experts (Biologists, Historians, Sociologists, ...) 4 Fishermen and protestors from Ancud and Cucao11 ₆

Layoffs from salmon industry 1

Interviews were held in neutral locations, such as cafes or at the interviewee’s office/home. Their duration ranged from half an hour to three hours, often taking a lot of time as the red tide is an umbrella term for multiple definitions, events and dynamics.

The main target of the study was people self-identified as directly affected or interested by the circumstances of the environmental crisis. These people were asked to define the problem they have been affected by, how their activity was impacted and how do they feel about it. Moreover, they were inquired about the motivation for their job and for other possible employments they could pursue.

11_{I decided to leave the actors of this group in the “others” table since they were not subject of my}

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Each actor was also demanded to provide their view about other affected (or interested) groups and comment on their relationship. Finally, further questions concerned the mobilization and future working perspectives.

During my stay in Chile, a diary was held where I collected post-interview reflections. From time to time, maps were compiled depicting the problem, actors and key information, which were used to prepare for subsequent interviews. The overall planning of the field work had to be adapted to the local rhythms: the interviews were arranged usually by phone and mostly for the same day, when they were planned in advance they were often forgotten by the interviewee or postponed due to logistical problems (the bad weather would prevent me to reach certain islands), hence the workload per day was quite irregular.

3.3.2 Participant Observation

Another data collection method applied in this thesis was participant observation. This method is deemed to be helpful because it provides first hand data12_and enhances the knowledge of the social community under study since the researcher experiences events from the perspective of the individuals in exam and gets insights about the actions and interactions between them (Balsieger and Lambelet, 2014: 145-146).

This technique met various needs of my study, it provided great information for answering sub questions 2 and 3 and was widely applied throughout the field work. In addition, through participant observation I was able to acknowledge the heterogeneity of the activities that characterize chilotes13_{’ working life.}

Some experiences I joined are listed below: ● collecting and planting algae,

● inshore and offshore gathering of shellfish,

● sampling of seafood together with the health authority,

● visiting the port, beaches and fish market at peak times of seafood trade, ● attending at fishermen associations’ gatherings and working table’s meetings, ● participating in workshops about local identity, environmental conservation

and other development topics.

12_{First hand data is generated by the researcher in person, therefore allowing a better control on}

biases and limitations.

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Although the choice of investigative methods and their use were defined prior to the fieldwork, final decisions were taken later during this phase. Most of the experiences that happened as part of participant observations were a consequence of local actors’ explicit encouragement and request to include me in their working, family and community life. Special attention was given to establishing and maintaining trust with the actors during fieldwork. Being present during these events would help build this relationship.

All (..) observations, as informal or unconscious as they are, are very important and useful for ethnographic research: "Your body remembers when your brain does

not" (Balsieger and Lambelet, 2014: 151 on Eliasoph, 2011)

A great deal of flexibility was demanded during the course of the fieldwork and as a consequence it may be difficult to fully reproduce its investigative methods. Allowing the circumstances to induce changes to the data collection methods was a key element in achieving a complete picture of the problem. The Problem-in-Context framework calls for a fuller understanding of the social and normative contexts that characterize environmental problems, leaving the researcher free to choose the type of data to be collected. Therefore, this thesis appropriately recognizes information obtained from informal conversations and events.

3.3.3 Sampling

The initial goal when designing the research was to use quota sampling strategy to achieve an equal number of subjects for each group. This showed to be very difficult when reaching for more members of specific groups. Instead, purposive sampling was used to identify variations and/or common themes between groups of affected actors (Bryman, 2012: 419).

The snowball strategy was also used to enlarge the contact base of potential interviewees (ibid. 424). This was done in a reverse way by asking the respondents for references of people or groups that shared a different idea. This strategy is suggested by Steins (1999) as being functional when researching multiple actors with discordant ideas. She also mentions that problems might arise in this situation as people can show a non-collaborative attitude to this strategy. This obstacle was barely encountered during fieldwork and can be explained with the urgent need to cooperate shared by the population.

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Population Marine resource users and inhabitants of Castro area

Unit Individual persons

Sample Key representants and members from different groups of resource users and stakeholders in the area of Castro Sample size At least one representative of each group of resource users Interviews Total of 47 interviews

3.4 Data Analysis

The analysis of qualitative data consisted of:

1. transcribing recorded interviews, describing impressions of observed situations, summarizing scrutinized documents;

2. comparing the data and

3. reorganizing the data on common categories and interpretations.

Analysis and organization were already taking place during interviews: annotations on the field diary were made when new information was connected to the theory. The approach was similar during observations: notes taken in the field were descriptive but also theoretically interpreted and analyzed in a reflexive way (Balsieger and Lambelet, 2014).

The data analysis was carried out manually. The transcription of the interviews was not fully done: particularly interesting expressions were transcribed while the rest of the content was just paraphrased (Kaufmann, 2009: 82). Since the language barrier was not an issue, the data was analyzed in its native language (Spanish) reducing the risk of content being lost in translation.

For the purpose of understanding the social and normative contexts of the actors whose perceptions are central to this thesis, the triangulation of qualitative research methods has been decisive, allowing to derive as much meaning as possible from subjective experiences (Balsieger and Lambelet, 2014; Bryman, 2012; della Porta, 2014).

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3.5 Research Ethics and Limitations

3.5.1 Limitations

Time spent on the field showed itself to be the major limitation in such a wide context, in fact it was not possible to provide a detailed understanding of the secondary actors involved in the problem as instead suggested by the PiC framework and initially planned in the research design.

Among primary actors, difficulties were encountered in collecting the perceptions of inshore shellfish gatherers that lacked representation and operated without permit. From their point of view, I could shed light on their illegal activities and bring them trouble. In one case I was able to overcome this trust issue while learning about their precarious situation: after several visits to this interviewee's workplace and smoothly engaging in small talks, they opened up.

There were no major obstacles in accessing people. I was in many ways participating in the community14_{which turned out improving my network, helping} me access key-interviewees and strengthening my understanding of the context. To conclude, while qualitative methodologies are commonly used in the study of social conflicts (Balsieger and Lambelet, 2014), mixed methods are preferred in the study of environmental resource management (Ashley and Boyd, 2006; Molina-Azorín and López-Gamero, 2016). As a consequence, this study recognises that the information provided, taken alone, is not sufficient to help solve the environmental management problem of Chiloé. This limitation could be overcome by combining the information here provided with future quantitative or mixed studies. As far as the purpose of this study is concerned, the research design is appropriate, thus meets the first judgement criterion on the quality of methodology (Molina-Azorín and López-Gamero, 2016).

3.5.2 Ethics

In the following lines I will provide useful information to evaluate how the four ethical principles in social research (Bryman, 2012) have been addressed in this study.

14_{I joined all kind of popular events and celebrations (e.g., Fiesta del Nazareno de Caguach, el}

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Since I arrived in the field, I was introducing myself as a student from the University of Amsterdam doing research for the sake of completing my Master’s thesis. People were generally enthusiast to talk to me and even though I took all measures to protect their privacy they seemed to not be worried about that15_:

“I have great respect for you, young lady, you came all alone from Europe to find out about our problem. I can only be happy and honoured that the story of our struggle reaches even the people of Amsterdam” (extracted from the interview with the leader of a fishing association).

Within social science research, ethical constraints may arise when the researched do not comprehend the reasons behind the investigation and is not interested in participating (Bryman, 2012). In my case, I found a very cooperative attitude, which can be justified by the importance of the topic with regards to the lives and economic activities of the people.

As della Porta (2014) once said regarding respondents in social movements’ research, “(p)articipating in an in-depth interview tends to be gratifying in itself for the interviewee” (248), therefore there was no need to pay people for their help. Instead, a symbolic gift to each interviewee felt necessary especially as a sign of gratitude towards their time and hospitality.

Although in some cases sensitive topics might have arisen, these were not triggered by my questions. Instead it was the respondents’ choice to bring them up: the use of semi-structured interviews allowed the interviewees to have great freedom regarding how they approach the answers.

15_{This is likely because, as the massive participation in the mobilizations showed, people want their}

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4 “All chilotes live from the sea”

16

_{: The Context}

4.1 Introduction

This chapter provides background about history and culture of the study area. The relation between Chiloé, Chile and the multiplicity of the actors in the area proved to be important for the full comprehension of the environmental problem affecting Chiloé.

4.2 History, Geography and Development

The province of Chiloé is situated in the south of Chile, in the X Region of Los Lagos17_{, and is composed by Chiloé Island (Isla Grande de Chiloé) and Archipelago,} that consists of about 40 islands of different dimensions. The canal of Chacao together with the gulf of Ancud and Corcovado keep the archipelago separated from the continent. The two gulfs form the inner sea of Chiloé in which are situated the majority of the populated islands (goreloslagos.cl). The three main cities and urban areas are all situated in Chiloé Island: Ancud, in the north, Castro (which is also the oldest city18_{) in the central-east, and Quellón, in the south.}

The environmental characteristics of the area, in particular the cold and rainy climate, have been crucial in defining settlement patterns and production possibilities. In reference to the latter, the abundance of maritime resources and the richness of forests have meant that the chilote was historically a pluriactive economic agent, whose relationship with nature was defined by a strong sea-land duality (Ramírez et al., 2009 a). Descendants of chonos (canoe nomads), huilliche (peasant and sailor community) and Spanish colonisers, the chilotes have inhabited especially the coast land dedicating their time to family-based agriculture on small areas of land, small-scale fishing, seafood extraction and wool handcrafting activities (Mansilla Torres, 2009). Therefore, chilotes were for centuries19_{mainly a}

16_{From an interview with a shellfish collector.}

17_{The Republic of Chile is composed by 15 regions, designated by a name and a Roman numeral.} 18_{And officially the third city founded by the Spanish colonizers, in 1567, in what today is the}

Chilean territory (BCN.cl).

Chiloé (Chile) and the coastal “red tide” : how an environmental crisis reveals social struggle

Dijana Delic

University of Amsterdam

MSc International Development Studies

Chiloé (Chile) and the coastal “red tide”: how an

environmental crisis reveals social struggle

Abstract

Acknowledgments

Contents

1 Introduction

1.1

Research Questions

1.2

Research Aim

1.3

Chapter Outline

2 Theoretical Framework

2.1

Political Ecology Approach to Environmental Problems

2.2

Problem-in-Context

2.3

Collective Action

2.4

Problem Statement

3 Research Methodology

3.1

Research Locations

3.2

Research Design, Epistemology and Unit of Analysis

3.3

Methods and Rationale of Data Collection

3.3.1 Semi-Structured Interviews

3.3.2 Participant Observation

3.3.3 Sampling

3.4

Data Analysis

3.5

Research Ethics and Limitations

3.5.1 Limitations

3.5.2 Ethics

4 “All chilotes live from the sea”

: The Context

4.1

Introduction

4.2

History, Geography and Development

_{: The Context}