Refuting NPR’s Misleading Narrative on Chile’s Salmon Industry
Recently, National Public Radio (NPR) published a deeply misleading article titled "Chile's Indigenous fishermen say the salmon industry threatens their way of life," which paints an unfair picture of Chile’s thriving, homegrown salmon farming industry. Authored by anti-aquaculture activist John Bartlett, the story maligns the thousands of hardworking men and women who supply nutritious, affordable salmon to the US and many other countries.
Much like a 2024 report published by the New York Times – which Bartlett also contributed to – this story failed to disclose that NPR, its reporter, and his sources are all financed by wealthy foundations actively working to undermine our industry. Instead, NPR readers were led to believe they were reading objective journalism informed by independent experts. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The NPR Narrative: A One-Sided Tale
Bartlett’s story is built on the uncontested claims of Reinaldo Caro, a 78-year-old Kawésqar fisherman, who erroneously alleges that salmon farms are devastating Patagonian ecosystems and eroding Indigenous livelihoods. The article hinges on Caro’s assertion that salmon aquaculture introduced non-native species to Chile, polluting the country’s pristine waters with waste, medication, and chemicals, destroying the Kawésqar way of life along the way.
The piece amplifies these concerns with input from marine biologist Claudio Carocca, who warns of ecosystem vulnerability due to human activity, including salmon farming. NPR suggests that the industry, a $6.3 billion export contributing a quarter of the world’s farmed salmon, is an environmental and cultural catastrophe, with the Chilean Salmon Council declining to comment, implying guilt by silence.
However, this narrative crumbles under scrutiny. NPR’s reporting is tainted by significant conflicts of interest, undermining its credibility. The outlet’s reliance on a single fisherman’s perspective, coupled with selective expert testimony, ignores the broader context: our industry supports thousands of jobs, including many filled by indigenous people, and adheres to rigorous regulations to protect the environment that sustains our salmon farms.
A Paid Agenda
The most critical problem plaguing NPR’s coverage is that it’s bankrolled by billionaire philanthropists, including those with ties to anti-aquaculture lobbying groups, who seek to dismantle Chile’s salmon industry. Nowhere does NPR disclose this obvious financial conflict—violating basic journalistic ethics.
How serious and extensive are these conflicts? Let’s begin with Bartlett, who along with his byline at NPR is a paid participant in the Earth Journalism Network’s (EJN) Dialogue.Earth project. This is important because EJN exists to manipulate media coverage of environmental issues in an ideological direction. When we investigated EJN’s financial backers, we discovered that the organization is supported by organizations like the Packard Foundation, which also supports Seafood Watch through the Monterey Bay Aquarium with over $100 million. Bartlett relies on Seafood Watch to bolster his misleading claims about antibiotic use on Chilean salmon farms.
Packard is part of a philanthropic network that includes the Walton Family Foundation and Pew Charitable Trusts, which has donated large sums to anti-aquaculture campaigns as well as to NPR. Walton has given at least $1 million to NPR, while Pew has contributed $2.5 million over the last decade. Walton was also the benefactor behind another pay-for-play “investigative report” on our industry published by the Pulitzer Center in 2023.
The connections go deeper still. Bartlett’s sources, including Carocca and activists Leticia and Reinaldo Caro, are not the grassroots figures portrayed. All three appeared in a documentary financed by the apparel firm Patagonia, a major supporter of anti-aquaculture advocacy in Chile. Rewilding Chile, led by former Patagonia CEO Kristine Tompkins, has received over $400,000 from the same foundation network to lobby for additional restrictions on salmon farming.
Bartlett wrote a fawning profile of Tompkins for NPR this January. “Her curiosity is boundless,” he declared, “be it kneeling to peer through portholes streaked with water … or searching for heart-shaped rocks on the beach for her collection.” Nowhere did he mention all the foundation money she has received to fund her limitless curiosity.
The Caros also appeared in a Greenpeace documentary unjustly attacking Chile’s salmon farmers. That NGO has taken over $3 million from the Packard Foundation, and its film wrongly blames our industry for contaminating the Kawésqar National Park.
This financial influence explains NPR’s omission of critical data. Chile’s salmon industry operates under strict environmental regulations enforced by the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (SERNAPESCA), which monitors water quality, antibiotic use, and fish escapes. The industry has invested heavily in sustainable practices, reducing its environmental footprint over the years.
Yet, NPR fails to mention these efforts, instead cherry-picking anecdotes of pollution and cultural loss to serve the interests of its backers rather than inform the public. In an ironic twist, Bartlett’s own sources refute his claims. For instance, Seafood Watch has acknowledged that our industry’s use of antibiotics has declined significantly in recent years. The Walton-sponsored Pulitzer report flatly rejects the claim that our salmon farms are to blame for harmful algal blooms off the Chilean coast.
The Indigenous Perspective: Misrepresented and Manipulated
Contrary to NPR’s portrayal, Chile’s salmon industry is a cornerstone of the nation’s economy and a lifeline for coastal communities. Exporting more than $6 billion worth of salmon annually, it ranks second only to copper, providing employment to over 60,000 people, many from Indigenous and rural backgrounds. Indeed, salmon farming has revitalized regions like Patagonia, offering stable incomes where traditional fishing alone could not sustain growing populations. NPR’s focus on Caro’s personal story overlooks the thousands of Indigenous and non-Indigenous workers who contribute to and rely on salmon farming.
Moreover, the industry’s growth has spurred infrastructure development, healthcare access, and education in remote areas—benefits NPR conveniently omits. Bottom line: Bartlett’s narrative simplifies a complex socio-economic reality, prioritizing drama over facts.
NPR presents the Kawésqar as victims of an invasive industry, but this portrayal excludes critical details—most notably that it’s a fringe perspective. For example, Juan Carlos Tonko Paterito, leader of the Kawésqar Indigenous Community in Puerto Edén, rejects NPR’s assessment as “Green imperialism,” an attempt by wealthy Americans to intervene in Chilean affairs that don’t concern them. “It cannot be that we are at the mercy of organizations … for which Chilean citizens have not voted to govern our destinies,” Paterito wrote in a scathing response to the activist attacks on salmon farming.
Reinaldo Caro’s narrative, though perhaps superficially compelling to NPR readers, represents a minority view within a community where many have adapted to and benefited from salmon farming. NPR’s refusal to engage with this perspective confirms Paterito’s allegation that American activists merely use his people for political gain. “They hang us on their websites,” he added. “The new yanacons are now digital and globalized by the hands of the green colonialists.”
Whatever happened to journalism?
NPR’s article on Chile’s salmon industry is a flawed and unethical attack, driven by undisclosed billionaire funding and a one-sided narrative. It’s little more than journalistic cover for a campaign to undermine a vital economic sector in Chile, all under the inexcusable guise of environmental and cultural concern.
The public deserves journalism that informs, not manipulates. NPR must disclose its funding sources and present a balanced view, including the industry’s contributions and regulatory successes. Until then, this report stands as a cautionary tale of how even supposedly reputable outlets can be swayed by hidden agendas. The salmon industry, far from threatening Chile’s future, is a model of how modern aquaculture can coexist with cultural heritage.