Invasive Chinook Salmon in Chile: Stakeholder Perceptions and Management Conflicts around a New Common-use Resource

Since the last decade, the Chinook salmon has become an invasive species in southern Chilean rivers, affecting their environment and displacing native species due to predation and competition. The socioeconomic valuation of this species is complex, due to its high economic, touristic, and culinary value. The tourism industry and artisanal fishing groups see the salmon as a new common-use resource to be regulated. The Chilean regulatory framework, in turn, has made the presence, danger, and economic importance of the species invisible. This document analyzes the social construction of salmonids according to different interest groups and their interaction with the legal invisibility of this species. Our study delves into a particular group: the artisanal fishermen of La Barra del Toltén, in the Araucania Region, whose main economic activity has been illegal Chinook salmon fishing, pressing for their legalization. This case raises reflections on the perennially complex relationship between nature and society, as well as the management of common problems and common resources.