MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Fisheries News.

Headlines:
Argentina's hake policy for the rest of 2004; Australia set to standardize fish names; Chilean salmon and trout exports expand 23%; European scientists study sardine migration.

Argentina's hake policy for the rest of 2004.

Argentina's Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food Secretariat (SAGPyA) established a maximum admissible catch of 138,000 tons for common hake (Merluccius hubbsi), north and south of parallel 41º S, from August until December 31. Of the total catch authorized, 84% has been allocated to vessels from the fresh-fish fleet and the remainder to freezer trawlers. Furthermore to ensure the conservation of the resource, Resolution 675/04 indicates that vessels included in Annex II "are not allowed to operate within an area of five nautical miles of the northern, eastern, and southern boundaries of the banned area," established in 2000 and later modified in January 2004. In order to contemplate "potential socioeconomic effects" of the latest resolution in coastal provinces, Buenos Aires province has been granted a catch resource of 8,000 tons; Rio Negro, 1,000; Chubut 1,200 tons and Santa Cruz 2,700 tons. An additional 6,700 tons were allocated to the province of Chubut to be distributed among coastal vessels from Rawaon. Besides, the new regulation establishes a 21-day biological ban with vessels remaining in port which can be divided into periods no shorter than 10 days, for the vessels included in Annexes I and II. Conditions described do not apply to those vessels operating exclusively in the Gulf of San Matías or vessels authorized to fish Patagonian scallops (Zygochlamys patagonica), beam trawlers, and surimi factory vessels. The validity of the new regulation will be subject to the implementation of the Transferable Individual Catch Quota System. If the Federal Council of Fisheries approves the implementation before the end of this year, catch volumes allocated by this resolution will expire automatically. (FIS/MP).-

Australia set to standardize fish names.

A national working group has been put to work on naming Australia's 4,500 or so finfish species, says a report by the Australian Commonwealth Scientific Research Organisation (CSIRO), putting an end to widespread confusion over fish identities. Funded by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and CSIRO Marine Research, the working group is made up of members from the commercial and recreational realm, as well as indigenous fishing representatives, fish-identification specialists, and aquarists. At a working meeting to be held in September, group members will gather to evaluate a list of common names drawn up by Australian scientists. The number of everyday fish names is doubles that of fish species, reported project leader, Dr Peter Last. "Practically anywhere you go in Australia there are different names from region to region for the same species." Last, advisor to the Fish Names Committee for about twenty years, says marketing name standardization has been of great help to commercially-traded fish species. There is much chaos, however, regarding secondary commercial, by-catch, and recreational, and aquarium fish species. The same species is often named differently by recreational and commercial sectors. A fish in one state or territory is the same fish with a different name in another. Some species have been christened more than five times making their identification ambiguous, such as the golden perch (Macquaria ambigua), also known as yellowbelly, callop, yellowfin perch and Murray perch. Commercial species were standardized for marketing purposes in a 1999 CSIRO guide drawn up by the Fish Names Committee. Fish names were since formalized in the "Australian Fish Names List." Gordon Yeasley, senior editor of the Australian Seafood Handbook, says that uniform names will appear in print once the standardized common names are set on record. Fish name standardization is part of a broad-scoped project that also includes creating a high-resolution digital image database of commercial and by-catch species in Australia. (FIS/MP).-

Chilean salmon and trout exports expand 23%.

During the first semester of 2004, Chile exported 188,553 net tons of salmon and trout valued 729,6 million US dollars, a 23% increase over the same period last year. But the Salmon Industry Association of Chile (Salmon Chile) also reports that revenues in the second quarter declined 29% over a year ago. Japan and the United States are Chile's main clients purchasing 302 million and 291,2 million US dollars, equivalent to 81.3% of all salmon and trout sales. The European Union ranked third with shipments valued 48,8 million US dollars. Latinamerica followed with 38,3 million US dollars, 5% of all exports. Regarding volumes, Japan was first with 48%, US 33%, Latinamerica 6% and the EU 5%. Salmon Chile report highlighted the growing share of the so-called "other markets," which made up 4,5% of volume and value for salmon and trout shipments. Israel stands out with a surprising 293.3% expansion compared to 2003 and Russia with purchases of 2,5 million US dollars. Others countries with increased imports of salmon and trout are Singapore and Australia with 127% and 94% jumps over last year. (FIS/MP).-

European scientists study sardine migration.

In order to prevent a new crisis of sardine resources like those registered during the 90s, scientists from across the world are taking part in the Sardyn project. Spanish researchers will mark more than 30,000 specimens of sardine in various points of the Iberian Peninsula, and then release them into the sea again. The re-catch of the marked fish will give information on the distribution, movements, behavior and growth of the species which is of great importance for the Spanish fleet particularly in Galicia with an annual catch of 30,000 tons. The project involves the participation of France, Norway, United Kingdom, Greece, and Spain, as well as Morocco as observer. In Spain, the research is led by scientist Carmela Porteiro from the Spanish Institute of Oceanography in Vigo. The study will also reveal the circumstances under which sardines migrate from the Mediterranean waters to the north of Europe, species' school movements, density, feed patterns, and attacks from predators. Spanish researchers will study the Galician coast during August and the Cantabrian in September. Meanwhile Portuguese scientists will mark and release sardine in the gulf of Cadiz and then in Figueira da Foz. This working structure will enable the recollection of information on pelagic species movements within the area extending between the strait of Gibraltar and the Bay of Biscay. (FIS/MP).-