MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine fisheries exchanges “useful” but not consistent, says Falklands Fisheries Director

The Falklands Director of Fisheries, John Barton, has ruled out ?an immediate closure' of the Loligo and Illex Argentinus squid fishing seasons, but said on Wednesday that the ?desperate situation of low catches is being carefully monitored daily'.

Mr. Barton reported that catches of Illex were, ?creeping up a little', but are still a long way short of the seasonal averages. He said, ?Some vessels are catching 5-6 tonnes of Illex a day, but the daily average is just 2 tonnes. Normally at this time of the season we expect some vessels to catch 20 tonnes a night'. Catches of Loligo (Calamares) squid are also well below the annual averages, said the Fisheries Director.

However Mr. Barton revealed that a season of relatively poor catches of squid were forecast this season. ?A Joint cruise using an Argentine vessel and featuring Argentine, United Kingdom and Falklands scientists showed that stocks this season would not be high, but we did not anticipate them to be quite as low as they have been'. He added that information from the Argentine fisheries department in Buenos Aires indicates that catch levels in Argentine waters are ?slightly better' than those recorded in Falklands waters.

Since 1986 the Falklands Government has relied heavily on the income from license fees associated with the squid fishing industry. Illex Argentinus is the largest revenue earner at £17 millions ($US 25.5millions) annually, while Loligo brings in around £6 millions ($US10 millions) annually. This has allowed the Falklands to become financially autonomous and self-sufficient, relying on the British Government to pay for the defence of the Islands.

Asked if, under the terms of previous agreements between the Argentine, British and Falklands Governments, regular information was forthcoming from Buenos Aires, Mr. Barton was hesitant in his response. ?We have had a certain amount of information (from Argentina). There is a formal information exchange between the Fisheries Departments of the Falklands and Argentina but their information does perhaps ?lag' a little so it's not as always current as we might like, but once received it is useful'.

Pressed on the point of the continued reluctance of the Argentine Government to enter into a ?long-term fisheries agreement' in South Atlantic waters, which might possibly have led to an avoidance of the current dire situation, the Director of Fisheries refused to be drawn into a ?political' debate on the issue. Mr. Barton said, ?I think the main issue in many respects is whether any form of conservation measures are extended to the high seas, also as part of the ongoing discussions in the South Atlantic Fisheries Commission between Britain and Argentina. It was also one of the issues raised in the 1999 Joint Statement, in that we do really need to extend conservation measures to the high seas and have some agreement (with Argentina) covering the high seas. There has been a bit of work ongoing on that but it probably hasn't made as much progress as perhaps it could have or should have. I think the evidence of this season is that there does need to be some way of gathering information from the high seas which would be useful, and extending conservation measures to the highs seas. Certainly having a lot of small squid caught on the highs seas early in the year is not helpful, and it would be better to allow that squid to grow and so produce a much greater biomass later in the year'.

The Falklands Director of Fisheries was adamant that unless, '40,000 tonnes of squid are left to spawn', then a follow-up ?disastrous' season can be expected. ?If the spawning stock falls below that figure then immediate action will have to be taken', Mr. Barton warned.

Patrick Watts ? Port Stanley