MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Fisheries News.

Headlines:
New “stealth” US fisheries research for Alaska; Koreans now biggest consumers of seafood worldwide; Brazil: Government rectifies foreign vessels chartering decree; Chile: Rare environmental emergency in fishing plant.

New "stealth" US fisheries research for Alaska

The first in a new class of sophisticated fisheries survey vessels has been launched in a Mississippi shipyard. The 208-foot Oscar Dyson will be home-ported in Kodiak, Alaska, and will focus on pollock and other commercially important fish stocks and their environment in the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska, sources of more than half of all US commercial landings. Key features of the 38 million UD dollars government vessel, which is expected to be commissioned and operational late next year, include its ability to run quietly to avoid disturbing the fish it will study. It can also collect environmental data while doing heavy trawling, a joint capability not currently available from the private sector. The ship is the first of four such vessels planned for delivery to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a branch of the US Department of Commerce. "These ships will provide higher quality data to fisheries managers about targeted fish populations and the environment that sustains them," said Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr., NOAA administrator. Lautenbacher was speaking on 17 October, when the brilliant white hull of the Oscar Dyson splashed into the water at a launching ceremony at the VT Halter Marine Inc. shipyard in Moss Point, Mississippi. At the ceremony, Lautenbacher announced that NOAA had exercised a contract option with Halter to build the first of the Oscar Dyson's three sister ships. The second ship will have the same design and will be based in New England. The newly launched ship is named after the late Oscar Dyson, an Alaska fishing industry pioneer. "The community of Kodiak will be proud to have this vessel honouring one of its favourite sons home-ported in their harbour," said US Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, who was instrumental in winning congressional funding for the new NOAA research ships. (FIS/MP).

Koreans now biggest consumers of seafood worldwide.

South Korea is now the world's top consumer of seafood per capita, even overtaking Japan. Figures released by the Korea Rural Economic Institute on Monday, 20 October, show that Koreans consumed 66.9 kilograms of seafood per person in 2001, just 0.1 of a kilogram more per person than the Japanese, who consumed 66.8 kilograms in 2000 - the highest consumption rate ever recorded before now. According to Chosun Ilbo, if only edible parts are included in the calculations, the average Korean consumes 2.74 kilograms more than his Japanese neighbours each year. The third biggest consumer is Taiwan at 40.3 kilograms per person per year, followed by France at 31.3 kilograms per person per year, and then Sweden at 30.9 kilograms. According to the institute, The survey was conducted using a sample of 889 households. When asked why they preferred seafood, 51 per cent of respondents in the survey said that they chose the dish because of "good taste", while 35.2 per cent chose seafood because it's a "healthy" option. Another 59.9 per cent said that fish was a healthier choice than meat. The most popular fish species consumed was anchovies at 14.99 grams per person per day, followed by Alaskan Pollack at 9.12 grams, mackerel at 7.57 grams, squid at 14.83 grams and finally shrimp at 5.36 grams. The consumption of raw fish has also gone up by 5.3 per cent. One of the researchers on the project, Lee Gye-im, pointed to the recent rise in incomes as one of the reasons for the change in diet. "Our country is surrounded by the ocean on three sides, so our people like seafood; and with rising incomes, more people are buying fish and shellfish instead of meat," he said. Compared to 25 years ago, meat consumption has gone up by four times and milk consumption is 10 times higher, while rice consumption has dropped by 25 per cent, and barley, which was a common cheap alternative to rice, is now only five per cent of what it once was.

Government rectifies foreign vessels chartering decree

Following strong complaints from the fishing sector, the Aquaculture and Fishery department (SEAP) has finally amended the Foreign Vessel Chartering decree. The SEAP made major corrections in order to improve industrial fishing conditions in national waters. Firstly, they extended the deadline for the presentation of proposals, from 25 to 30 days, as from the day that the amendment was published in the Official Union Paper (DOU) - last Friday 17 October. In contrast, the authorities will now have less time to evaluate the proposals. Secondly, all of the technical requirements for international vessels (except for the size) stated by the original ruling, have now been excluded. However, José Fritsch, the head of SEAP, has decided against modifying the maximum number of vessels that any one company can charter, which was one of the principle demands from national vessel owners Fritsch justified the department's strong position claiming that the maximum limit "will allow for a more equal chartering system, especially with regards cooperatives and smaller companies." "The absence of a maximum limit could lead some companies to monopolize the activity in some regions, as has already been the case," he stressed.

Rare environmental emergency in fishing plant

More than 100 workers from the Pesquera El Golfo frozen products plant in Talcahuano had to be hospitalized after presenting intoxication symptoms of unknown origin. The emergency occurred between last Friday night (17 October) and the early hours of Saturday in the plant that was opened last July thanks to a USD 5 million investment. Those affected belonged to two working shifts and presented symptoms including dizziness, irritation to the eyes, inflamed throats, vomiting, difficulty breathing and fainting fits. The company's operations manager, Nicos Nicolaides, said that in the Labour Safety Institute (IST) where the workers were treated, professionals had dismissed the possibility of food poisoning. None of the workers' lives were at risk, although some had to be admitted to hospital. The company's risk prevention officers and the IST visited the plant to determine the cause of the problem, thus preventing the Saturday morning shift from accessing the building to carry out their jobs. Upon request from the company, staff from the Department of Environmental Emergency from the port's Health Service, together with the Talcahuano IV Firemen, carried out tests for carbon monoxide and dioxide, ammonia and chlorine, all of which came back as normal. Teresa Lizana, president of the Federation of Fishing Unions (Fesip), who also works in the plant, said that the situation cannot be attributed to gone-off catches as the product had traveled through various sources before reaching the plant and no problem had arisen anywhere else. Experts from the Fundación Chile have sampled the water and cleaning products. The results will be known in a few days. As soon as the head of the Department of Environmental Emergency from the Talcahuano Health Service, Rosano Galgani, had ensured that the plant was free from problems and did not pose any further risk, the company decided to resume production. Pesquera El Golfo employs around 1,700 people and has recently made important investments towards plant modernization and improving employee and industrial process productivity. Almost 90 per cent of the company's production is exported and this years turnover is estimated to reach USD 90 million - a USD 10 million increase from 2002.