MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine hake quota already caught.

Argentine hake (Merluccius hubbsi) catches to the north of parallel 41° totalled 62,400 tonnes and catches to the south totalled 129,000 tonnes, by 19 August. This makes a total of 191,400 tonnes - 65 per cent of this year's 300,000 tonne total allowable catch (TAC) set by the Federal Fisheries Council - leaving 108,600 tonnes to catch in both regions.

The figures were revealed during last week's meeting of the Argentine Hake Management Advisory Committee in Puerto Madryn, Chubut, chaired by Marcelo Santos from the Fisheries Department in the absence of the minister Gerardo Nieto. The meeting was attended by Committee members from various fisheries councils.

The Committee discussed regulations on traceability, which aims to track Argentine hake from the moment it is caught, through landing, processing and storage to sale. It also tackled the issues surrounding the installation of satellite tracking systems, reports Diario de Madryn.

Members received a copy of the Committee's draft resolution on management of the species, such as the one prepared for the management of the Patagonian toothfish fishery. The resolution calls for consultation with vessel owners' organisations.

Future meetings will require the presence of artisanal sector representatives from the Coastal Fishery Vessels Association and the Fishing Skippers Society, together with all the main fishing industry councils representing vessel owners, processors and other stakeholders.

CIPA, CAPIP, CAPECA, UDIPA, CAPPEFRE, and CALaPa are among the organisations listed.

Tests reveal more contaminated salmon

Controversy over banned chemicals in farmed salmon has flared up again as news emerged last week that more salmon due for export to the European Union was found to be contaminated.

National Fisheries Service (Sernapesca) officials impounded the suspect salmon after routine testing revealed traces of leuchomalachite - a metabolite of the fungicide malachite green that was widely used in aquaculture until it was banned because of possible risk to human health.

Although it was only reported in local media last week, the banned substance had been found in salmon due for shipment during both July and August.

Tests had been carried out on salmon products and also on lake water in southern Chile, on government orders, after Dutch officials detained a 180,000 kg shipment of Chilean salmon found to be contaminated with leuchomalachite

Sernapesca instructed all salmon producers who export to Europe to submit products to the University of Chile laboratory for testing and these tests revealed that 460 samples were contaminated with leuchomalachite, reports Aqua Noticias.

Several containers of salmon were subsequently impounded in the Bio-Bio region. It is not yet known how much salmon was seized or which companies it belonged to, although a report in Ecocéanos hints that companies previously associated with illegal use of malachite green may be involved.

Juan Carlos Cárdenas, of the environmental organisation Centro Ecocéanos, said: "The fact that several containers of top quality salmon fillets have been sequestered for health reasons in Holland, Spain and now Chile sends a clear message that the industry needs to radically overhaul production under the close scrutiny of the public and consumers, and with effective monitoring by the authorities."

Source FIS/MP