The Chilean salmon industry is celebrating after a joint committee of lawmakers voted to reject the removal of text from fisheries and aquaculture legislation that it feared would put more 70,000 salmon sector jobs at risk.
A knife edge vote of lawmakers from Chile's Congress and Senate was dramatically tied five votes to five three times on Monday evening.
"When there is a tie it is rejected," a senior Chilean salmon industry executive explained.
The removal of Article 158 from the fisheries and aquaculture law would have given the power to the proposed new Servicio de Biodiversidad y Areas Protegidas, or National Biodiversity and Protected Areas Service (SBAP) to block the renewal of hundreds of salmon farming concessions in protected areas, the industry feared.
