Brown seaweeds fishery and copper mining production: Two distant economic industries connected by socioecological impacts in Northern Chile

Abstract

Northern Chile is the scenario of two main activities from a social and economic point of view the: brown seaweeds fishery and cooper mining industry. Chilean brown seaweeds of economic importance, commonly known as kelps, constitute a multi-specific fishery with a workforce of 15,000 people. Four species of kelps are harvested from natural populations by artisanal fishers and exported to world markets as raw material for alginate extraction. On the other hand, copper mining production, contributes 36 % of GDP and it is the major Chilean export commodity. Due to the non-existence of entry barriers to seaweed extraction, this activity has become the sink for unemployment in northern Chile mainly from mining activity. In this context, our results show that when the price of copper is in a downward cycle, it negatively affects the abundance of brown seaweeds, due to the mobility of the workforce to the coastline, increasing the illegal harvest of these marine resources. In contrast, the upward cycle of copper decreases the harvesting pressure, removing illegal harvesters from the coastline and returning them to a mining industry and its suppliers with better wages. These drivers would generate a temporary window for recovery and restoration of brown algae populations, as well as the numerous ecosystem services provided by these engineering organisms.