Salmon Farms

 Many of the presenters describing Chile include a short description of the Chilean economy. I understood that copper is the top export, but I needed help understanding what they kept describing as the second leading export. Heavily accented English and poor audio equipment are not a good combination. As we sailed along and comments were made in reference to fish farms, I finally figured out the word I could not understand was salmon. 

Salmon have a two-year life cycle beginning life in freshwater and maturing in salt water. Those from our part of the world may understand this from the salmon runs in Alaska with images of the mature salmon returning to the same freshwater streams in which they hatched to lay and fertilize eggs and die. This natural movement - fresh to salt water and return - is simulated by the fish-rearing industry in Chile. 

What I knew about the farming of fish was not good. I remember shrimpers in Alabama were complaining about farm-reared shrimp and the unhealthy conditions under which these shrimp are raised. I know there are issues with the reputation of some of the seafood and freshwater fish you purchase in big box stores associated with similar issues.  I am learning that there is a similar issue with salmon and half of the salmon consumed in the U.S. comes from Chile and is raised in the sea farms we have now seen. These farms are everywhere along the shore of the fjords.

My online searches indicate that Chile is second only to Norway in the export of salmon with Norway able to produce fish in what is regarded as a healthier way. A major issue in Chilean farming practices is the heavy use of antibiotics and growth stimulants. I read in one source that Chile used 1.2 million pounds of antibiotics in 2014 in comparison to the 2100 pounds used in Norway. Part of the concern is that these medications when used extensively can result in resistant organisms and some of the same medications are used by humans. Chile is attempting to reduce the level of antibiotics used and to rely on less protein-rich food made from wild fish by switching to more vegetable-based fish food. My guess is that the poverty level in combination with a history of few regulations makes changing such a lucrative industry difficult. 

USDA Salmon Overview - Chile

Chilean Salmon - Economist

Castro Tourism Photos

 I have a couple more photos I wanted to post today because I should accumulate some great nature photos tomorrow and I want to keep up with the activities of our trip. I would describe these as tourism photos because I have seen similar shots before I visited and I ended up taking similar images myself. Click the second image to view it as a larger image.

When we first arrived and before we went through what amounted to security Cindy headed for the stall of a local vender with money to spend. The lady did not speak English and Cindy does not speak Spanish so they became acquainted and decided on the price for a piece of wood using Google translate. This is such a Cindy thing. 

The wood she purchased ended up being related to a couple of experiences during the rest of our visit. The wood in the churches (previous post) and the stilts used to elevate the houses along the beach are made of this wood. Cindy thought it was a word she did not understand (alerce) that was translated as larch.

Wood Churches of Chiloe

 We visited wooden churches today. I will first upload some photos and then offer some comments. 

Church of Nercon

Church of Chonchi

Church of Castro

I practice my tech skills whenever I can. But just to indicate when I can take credit and when I should not, I had ChatGPT write the following. I did ask the questions and I did review the responses. The content is certainly better than I could generate from memory. 

Why are the churches of Chiloe famous

The churches of Chiloe are famous for their unique architectural style, known as Chilota architecture. These wooden churches were built by Jesuit missionaries in the 18th and 19th centuries and are recognized for their cultural and historical significance. The churches are characterized by their use of native wood and construction techniques influenced by both European and indigenous Chilote traditions. In 2000, UNESCO designated a selection of these churches as a World Heritage site, acknowledging their importance in the cultural heritage of Chiloe.

What kind of wood makes these churches unique

he churches of Chiloe are unique due to the extensive use of native timber, particularly a local wood called alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides). Alerce is a slow-growing, durable wood that contributes to the longevity and resilience of these churches. The extensive use of wood in construction, combined with the skills of local craftsmen, gives the churches their distinctive appearance and has helped them withstand the test of time and the region’s challenging weather conditions.

What else can I remember from our tour. The churches are larger than one might expect from the size of the communities because the residents wanted them visible from sea. It is not just the highly durable and now rare wood that is important, but also how the pieces of wood are joined allowing some flexibility in high winds. Most were built by boat builders.  I am not certain what this his means as an engineering strategy, but I tried to include visible wood segments in my photos. I have included a link that provides information about UNESCO World Heritage Sites. 

iNaturalist

 iNaturalist is an app for identifying and keeping track of the living things you have encountered. Viking evidently has decided this is the app they will promote on all of its expedition trips. This is one of the apps I have explored because I thought apps of this type have potential value for students and classroom assignments (e.g., identify and capture images of the trees in your neighborhood). 

We attended a session preparing any interested passengers in the use of the app. Imagine a group of older, novice iPhone users and you can possibly imagine what it must be like to try to explain any unfamiliar app. Mixed in were a few of us interested in citizen science and how the AI in this specific app recognized specimens. I try not to be obnoxious, but I had not spent a lot of time with iNaturalist and I was interested in how it compared with other similar apps (e.g., PlantSnap). There is a specific feature that differentiates a first try at identification (the AI first does the best it can) from considering a sighting verified and I was interested how the verification process works. Did an expert go through and mark the images as verified that seemed highly probable? It turns out that the process is probably best described as crowd-sourced with different individuals entering opinions of the identity of public images and the app then making a decision when the overall inputs reach some criterion.

Someone in the group asked about use of the data and wondered if the observations could be filtered in different ways. For example, observation dates could be useful in tracking migration patterns. I know this is how Journey North works. Because the presenter was emphasizing bird identification, I was going to ask if she was familiar with Bird Buddy because it was a citizen science project that relied on photos and identifications collected from bird feeders, but I decided that would get the group off topic.

The presenter went on to describe the group feature of the app which allows participants in a group to submit images. Viking cruises has a group account collecting images from anyone on a Vikings cruise. Some images were from areas around the Great Lakes where we have camped. Anyway, the presenter wanted to demonstrate how you add a photo to this group collection and for some reason, possibly my good looks, she took a photo of me and submitted to the world wide group as an example of a human. I wish she would have given me more warning and I found have stopped slouching in my chair. Anyway, I now appear to be the only example of a human submitted by any member of the Viking group. I am still there today, but I have yet to be verified.

Toy Room

 We are still on the open sea heading South and we have kept busy by attending various educational programs and looking at the equipment to be made available later in our trip. Today we visited the Toy Room to see the equipment available for excursions. Very impressive devices.

Zodiacs

Most folks are probably familiar with the Zodiac from military special forces movies. We will use them as well to get from the ship to shore. Maybe some whale watching. The only issue I can see is getting in and out. 

Special Operations Boats

Special Operations Boats are another type of boat used by the military, but useful in other operations as well. The boats can be modified easily by removing seats to free up space for other equipment or for hauling whatever. These craft are larger and faster for moving small groups of people around more quickly.

Submarine

There are two submarines that can be launched from the ship. Each carries 5 people and a captain. Cindy is on the list if other people chicken out. I hope she gets a chance. Not me. The quarters are cramped and getting and in and out would be a challenge. Plus, I am not much of a thrill seeker. They did say they carry four days supply of food, water, and air in case they get stuck on the bottom. No bathroom.  

Subtender and kayaks

The tender takes people to and from the sub. Each dive is 45 minutes.