The results of the survey, conducted by the IDEAL Center and the Millennium SECOS Institute, will allow us to know the perception of the health status of 33 of the 36 coastal municipalities in the Southern Region of Chile.
What is a healthy environment? Who harms the health of the sea? These are some of the questions answered in person by more than 1,500 people in the regions of Los Lagos, Aisne and Magallanes, as part of the first Citizens’ Consultation on Ocean Health, an initiative that has collected in its online format the opinions of 1,246 people. .
On this occasion, the Center for Dynamic Research of High Latitude Marine Ecosystems (IDEAL) affiliate University of Southern Chile (UACh) and the Millennium Institute of Coastal Sociology and Ecology (SECOS)reported the results of a face-to-face survey conducted exclusively among the population of Chilean Patagonia.
The results showed that the sea represents life, peace, tranquility, work and food for the majority of those surveyed. People are linked as the main culprits in harming the health of the oceans, at 38.4%; then companies or industries, at 23.5%; Salmon farms ranked third with 19.9% of responses. This consultation, in addition to reflecting how the health of the sea is perceived by those living in the coastal regions of Patagonia, will contribute to the construction of the Ocean Health Index (OHI), the first phase of which will be in this region. explained Dr. Laura Nahuelholl, initiative coordinator and researcher at the IDEAL Center and SECOS Millennium Institute.
The results of the survey will allow us to know the perception of the health situation in 33 of the 36 coastal municipalities of southern Patagonia in Chile, the factors that influence it and the ability of each one to improve its indicator through management and planning interventions.
Ocean Health in Patagonia
Some of the results obtained in a face-to-face citizen consultation indicate that for 64.4% of those surveyed in Patagonia, a healthy sea is one that contains great biodiversity, organisms in their natural state and in balance with life. On the other hand, 55.3% associate damaged surroundings with pollution and litter, especially plastic.
Gonzalo CamposAn engineer in Renewable Natural Resources from the IDEAL Center, responsible for analyzing data from the survey, commented that “according to those interviewed, the main people responsible for harming the health of the sea in Patagonia are the people themselves and their sources of direct pollution such as garbage, while the salmon industry is the only one.” which are considered responsible for the deterioration of the sea.”
71.8% of the responses indicate that the main actions that have been implemented to improve the health of the sea in Patagonia are beach cleaning and garbage collection. Only 4.6% said that there is oversight, monitoring, and regulations that better regulate the issue. In addition, 3.9% see education, awareness raising, talks, workshops and/or campaigns being implemented. 2.2% indicated that it would be necessary to improve operations, infrastructure and equipment.
The benefits that the sea offers
Regarding the goods provided by the ocean, 83.2% of people answered that they strongly agree that the sea and its coasts provide opportunities for tourism and recreation, while 82.66% strongly agree that this resource generates a sense of local identity, and in third place that it helps subsistence and coastal economies (79.91%) .
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