MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Squid over exploitation.

In one of its main editorials this week Buenos Aires daily La Nación warns about the overexploitation of squid in the South Atlantic and recalls the recent Argentine experience with the collapse of the Hubbsi hake fisheries that is threatening the whole industry.

After explaining the one year life cycle of squid and the fact that Argentina is the world's main supplier of Illex, (100 million US dollars overseas sales), La Nación points out that a surviving biomass of 40% is essential to ensure the following squid season, but this has been imperilled because of an excessive number of licences, poaching in the high seas, absence of a constant conservation policy and lack of funds to adequately finance scientific cruises.

In effect this season INIDEP, the Argentine National Fisheries Research and Development Institute, has been unable to collect vital data because it could not finance the scientific cruise and it's possible that "too many licences have been extended". However, the Federal Fisheries Committee can decide to considerably shorten the capture season for conservation reasons.

But this is not the end of the question, stresses La Nación. Besides Argentina's EEZ there's Uruguay that also catches squid, and the Malvinas EZZ, and the plus 200 miles poachers that given limited resources can't always be kept at bay by Argentine Navy and Coast Guard patrolling. This has meant that over the last ten years of all the squid caught in the South Atlantic, 62% has been managed by Argentina.

La Nación concludes that even with the bitter experience of hake and the fact that there's no turning back this season regarding squid, the new Argentine administration (after May 25) does not have to repeat the same mistakes. Rather Argentina should look towards New Zealand that successfully manages a sustainable fishery which exports one billion US dollars annually.