Let's defend Dichato! Common goods and territorial conflict in Chilean coastal areas

Abstract

The Civil Code of the Republic of Chile established that fishermen could make use of the sea beaches for their fishing activities, thereby defining a coastline space of independent common use for the neighboring owners, who would soon become a territory of conflict that would increase to the extent that different economic activities were superimposed on these common spaces. This paper presents some historical examples that reflect how fishermen used this right to defend their interests. Special atention is given to the case of the coastal edge of Dichato, shortly before it were the scene of a conflict involving the State, owners, fishermen and vacationers in the mid-twentieth century.