MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Regional News from Pta. Arenas.

Headlines: Back home; Rhubarb, peonies and tulips;
Red tide from Magellan to Uruguay; Unemployment 6,5%; Ozone and Punta Arenas

Back home

Three of the 39 Chilean crewmembers arrested by the French Navy fishing illegally in a Belize flagged longliner in the southern Pacific early January are back with their family in Punta Arenas, according to Prensa Austral. The three belong to the Marques Saldivia family and the eldest spent four consecutive seasons, totaling one year and four months, in the South Pacific, fishing for the company Fishering Corporation that belongs to Spanish investors. Mr Luis Marques Saldivia says he was originally contacted by Spanish agents in Punta Arenas and flown to Mauritius island where he signed the contract with Fishering Corporation, which after the arrest "paid all our salaries, tickets back home and stood up for us in Reunion island when we were arrested". "French frigates and helicopters arrested us while we were fishing and escorted the "Lince" to Reunion island from where we were eventually deported", said Mr. Marques Saldivia adding that French officials "were very considerate, they supplied us with food, drinks and speeded all the paperwork to have us flown to Paris, Buenos Aires and finally Chile". However the captain of the longliner, Chilean born Neftalí Rojas remains in Reunion island waiting to be trailed and he "might be banned for life from French territorial waters". "Our only complaint is that the French called us "pirates". Actually crewmembers are contracted to catch fish and not to command the vessel. Chilean fishermen are very well considered world wide and that is why they come to contract us". And why do Magallanes fishermen work so far away from home? "In one season overseas I can make more money than in Punta Arenas in a whole year", underlines Mr. Marques Saldivia.

Rhubarb, peonies and tulips

With the sponsoring of ProChile and other Chilean development agencies several farms in Magallanes are experimenting with home made rhubarb products and others have began pilot overseas sales of peonies and tulips. Rhubarb originally from China was brought to Patagonia and the south of Chile by Scottish and German settlers in the second half of the XIXth century and rapidly adapted to the cold weather conditions of the area. Sixty miles from Punta Arenas and with imported seeds from England, a couple of farmers with two contracted workers have managed two full hectares of rhubarb and have began processing the reddish stalks into marmalade and other similar products. The market niche is the deli shops and supermarkets in Santiago and other urban areas in Chile. With similar support and help from the Agriculture Innovation Foundation, several farms in Magallanes have joined in a project to develop pre season flowers such as tulips and peonies. A first experimental and apparently successful shipment of 200,000 tulips was sent to New York and Miami last December and in early January 50,000 peonies, also for the American market. Magallanes Regional Agriculture Secretary Juan José Romero said the three projects are very encouraging, "actually we're working with flowers since 1999, but this year the Fund for Promoting Agriculture Exports has almost five million US dollars to invest so it should make a difference and boost our objective of diversifying faming in Magallanes".

Red tide from Magellan to Uruguay

Red tide has resurged in Magallanes region, in the southern tip of South America, and now extends all along the South Atlantic coast including Uruguay. Chilean authorities warned over the weekend that a strong maturing of toxic algae has re emerged in the Magallanes, Ultima Esperanza and Tierra del Fuego areas and therefore the ban on human consumption of cockles and shell fish remains. A similar ban still stands along most of the Argentine South Atlantic coast where local authorities have reiterated warnings given that this season over a million and a half Argentines have literally flooded beaches. The last to join the ban was Uruguay that specifically banned the consumption of all bivalves, given the appearance of the algae, with the mortal toxin, on which most shell fish feed. Fish is excluded from the ban. The latest samples taken in southern Chile indicate that algae contamination is 40 times the maximum authorized. Authorities in the three countries are concerned that although the ban is overall respected, it's not always easy to keep track of all coastal extractors who make a living during the summer months. According to Chilean records, since 1972, 328 red tide intoxication cases were reported in southern Chile, of which 23 fatal. The last three occurred in 2002 and involved three fishermen who consumed shell fish. In Argentina the only fatal case reported this season occurred in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego.

Unemployment 6,5%

Unemployment in Magallanes region reached 6,5% during the last quarter of 2002 according to the latest release from the Chilean Statistics Institute. This means Magallanes figures in fifth place among the Chilean regions with lowest unemployment. The country's national average for the same period is 7,8% and declining. The fourth quarter reading represents a 0,5% increase over the same period a year ago, but is virtually the same compared to the previous quarter (third Q 2002). Magallanes working force was estimated in 66,930 and the unemployed 4,340. Compared to 4Q 2001 employment increased in farming, hunting, fishing; mining and quarries; commerce, financial services, and social and community services. Employment diminished in construction, transport, communications, industry plus gas, electricity and water. The same tendencies are extracted comparing the latest report with the previous quarter (3Q 2002). Chile's total work force was estimated in six million in the last quarter of 2002, while is expected to keep dropping as the economy begins to pick up. Chilean unemployment is the lowest since 4Q 1999. The Chilean government finances a jobs program that is estimated to have annulled two points of unemployment.

Ozone and Punta Arenas

The Chilean Foreign Office has promised to work jointly with Magallanes Region to neutralize international press reports that have exaggerated the ozone layer situation in Punta Arenas seriously threatening the tourist industry. Beginning with a piece in The New York Times saying that most Punta Arenas residents fear walking in the streets because of the Ultra Violet rays and keep their children indoors, that was later picked up by the American CNN network and other European newspapers, local tourist operators claim they have been bombarded by calls from potential tourists and alarmed friends demanding to know how really serious is the ozone situation in the extreme south of Chile. In an attempt to contain misinformation and damage, all Chilean embassies and consulates will be receiving regular reports explaining the thinning of the ozone layer phenomena and how Punta Arenas, and Magallanes region residents as a whole, are less exposed to UV rays than other areas of the world. Lidia Amarales, representative of the Health Secretary in Magallanes met in Santiago with José Manuel Ovalle head of the Environmental Office of the Chilean Foreign Office to coordinate the campaign. "Our regional office will be the liaison with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and our objective is total transparency", said Ms. Amarales. "We have nothing to hide, we have all the scientific data to support our position regarding the ozone layer, and we will report on all the prevention involved. Chilean overseas offices will keep track of the issue and any misinformation or misleading reports will be immediately responded", added Ms. Amarales. Punta Arenas tourist industry has been particularly concerned about the negative publicity that misinterpretation of the effects of the ozone layer thinning could have for the area including cruises to the Antarctic.