Routine Losses,Continuous Improvement,and Warming Oceans: Risk and Uncertainty on Chile’s Aquaculture Frontier

Abstract

For several decades, proponents of aquaculture have framed the industry as a critical element of the emerging blue economy. In Aysén, Chile, however, environmental crises have undermined the industry’s claims to sustainability. Invoking “continuous improvement,” aquaculture operators manage ecological, economic, and political risks. This requires shared understandings of risk and uncertainty in which some sources of harm can be mitigated while others are unpredictable consequences of environmental variability. Uncertainty therefore becomes a corporate social technology for blunting criticism of the industry. However, uncertainty also shapes how those overseeing the industry perceive their role within Chile’s development project.