Women of the sea visited the facilities of Chinquihue Foundation, where they acquired knowledge to be able to prepare frozen, smoked and canned products.  

A group of seven artisanal female fishermen from the commune of Quemchi, Isla Grande de Chiloé, arrived at the premises of Chinquihue Foundation to be trained in the processing of high value seafood products, this in the processing room that the institution has and is known under the name Ruka Iyael.  

In the opportunity, the women worked with products such as the mussel, scallop and whelk, marine resources native to the area where they carry out their productive activities, which they turned into delicious smoked, frozen and canned foods.

Julia del Carmen Chiguay She is one of those seven women. She currently owns a fish shop in her hometown. "For me this is new because sometimes you just work your own way," she says. "But here," she reflects, "they teach you the correct way to carry out the procedures to get better results."

And that is because Chiguay is one of the beneficiaries of Programme for Economic Recovery through Family Micro-enterprises (MEF) of the Regional Government of the Lakes, which was executed by Chinquihue Foundation and that delivered more than 80 micromodules of processes for the production of products of the sea with productive formalization.

Javiera Mansilla, in charge of the Office of Fisheries of the Municipality of Quemchi -who accompanied the shore collectors in this trip-, indicated that the department that directs this activity “so that the fishermen can acquire new knowledge as far as the production of products of the sea is concerned”.

In that sense, he argued that “a specific group of people was chosen, who were transferred to Fundación Chinquihue to offer them training, activities that are part of a technical tour program that our municipality has.”

Mansilla said she saw the sea women “very happy, impressed by the experience (...). I see them wanting to continue learning and apply the new knowledge in their ventures.”

This technical visit was made possible thanks to the management of the Office of Fishing of the Municipality of Quemchi.