| The photographs in this publication were taken in Curamín (Hualaihué), Calbuco, Las Cruces, Los Vilos and Caleta Queule by Susana Cárcamo |

Artisanal diving, an ancestral activity that is key for coastal communities, that combines learning and cultural heritage and has been passed down through many generations, is the subject of research presented in the recent book “Vaciante y Creciente: Inmersiones al buceo artesanal” (in Spanish), by anthropologist Susana Cárcamo, marine biologist Stefan Gelcich (UC) and sociologist Rodrigo Estévez (UST).

The book grew out of a desire to understand and document the perceptions and motivations of shellfish divers, women and men, as well as spearfishing divers from northern Chile to Patagonia, for taking up this trade. Estévez and Gelcich, both researchers at the Millennium Institute in Coastal Socio-Ecology (SECOS) and the CAPES Center, worked with Cárcamo on the book, initially drawing on twenty-five divers and eventually more than thirty.

A WAY OF LIFE UNDER THE SEA

The book, the first of its kind and depth about this activity in Chile, invites readers to recognize diving as an activity that shapes community relationships, forms of collective organization and a sense of belonging. The accounts of divers reveal support networks, shared learning and a work ethic rooted in respect for the sea and those who inhabit it.

In another account in the book, Simón Díaz, a shellfish diver from Isla Quigua in Calbuco, Los Lagos Region, who has worked with hookah (surface-supplied diving) for more than 30 years, also highlights what it has meant in his life: “To me, diving is something hard to put into words, because I think it is one of the toughest jobs there is, with people who brave all kinds of weather, storms, sailing and distances to come home with a living for their families.”

The same is true for Antonia Mayorga, a diver and breadwinner in Rolecha, in the Hualaihué district. “I loved it; it was incredible, something that makes me very proud, because it has lasted over time and become a source of work within my family: my husband and my two sons make their living from it.”

ARTISANAL FISHING AND RESOURCE CO-MANAGEMENT

Through many accounts, the book presents artisanal diving as a structural part of benthic resource management in Chile and of seafood consumption. Through stories and historical data, it documents how divers have been key players in implementing TURFs (Territorial User Rights for Fisheries, known in Chile as AMERB), taking part directly in the assessment, controlled harvesting and monitoring of natural beds of commercially important species.

However, the research also points to a historical debt: a lack of recognition from society and the State. In artisanal fishing, diving has been key for harvesting benthic resources such as locos, sea urchins, limpets, seaweed and rockfish, sustaining local economies and contributing to food security and to the identity of many coastal territories.

The book also shows that diving has generated direct and indirect employment in many fishing coves, linked to production chains that include the processing, transport and sale of marine resources. However, it also highlights the precariousness that has historically characterized this activity: informality, occupational hazards, exposure to diving accidents and little institutional recognition for long periods.

For the authors, as well as for those who share their stories in the book, a worrying aspect is how little the trade is being passed on to new generations.

“There is a significant gap on this subject in academia, especially considering the diversity of experiences and ways of living on the coast among people from the north and south of the country. In my view, unless there is collaborative and direct work at the national level between scientists, academics and State agencies with people connected to the sea, job insecurity will keep getting worse, and so will people leaving the trade. Today there are other economic attractions for young people that compete with shellfish diving, so planning how harvesting will continue, which species, how and when, is urgent,” Cárcamo adds.