MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Falklands Fisheries Committee Approves Further Scallop Exploration.
A proposal by the Falkland Island Government Fisheries Department to further explore the potential for scallop (ostiones) fishing around the Islands was approved by the Fisheries Committee at their meeting on Tuesday morning.
The proposal before the Committee was that the scallop fishing vessel F/V Holberg should return to Falklands waters for around thirty days to carry out exploratory fishing in a number of selected areas not currently targeted for scallop fishing.
Director of Fisheries, John Barton, put forward the proposal in a short paper to the Fisheries Committee, which advises the Executive Council of the Falkland Islands and brings together government officials, elected members of the Islands' legislature and local private sector representatives of the Islands' fishing industry.
In recent years there has been an exploratory fishery for scallops in the Falkland Islands Conservation Zone (FICZ). The Committee was told that some 920 tonnes (green weight) had been taken in 2003 and 2004. This was the Total Allowable Catch (TAC), which was regarded as the sustainable yield from the known scallop banks, situated mainly to the North-East of Stanley.
While the TAC was sufficient to allow the vessel recently deployed to fish profitably for a matter of months, the Committee was informed that both the company that owned the vessel and the Fisheries Department were interested in determining whether other scallop banks existed, which might make the scallop resource larger. This in turn might lead to an adjustment of the TAC in an upward direction.
Some previous exploratory work, together with reports from other fisheries, had suggested that scallops might be more widely spread around the Falklands, but it remained to be seen whether there were significant concentrations elsewhere, such as those currently being exploited.
The Committee was informed that the intention was that all catches taken during the exploratory fishing process would be returned to the sea, except for scientific samples. This would avoid the need for the vessel to be issued a licence by the Fisheries Department and would ensure the maintenance of the exploratory focus of the voyage. As there would be no need to process the catch, a minimum number of crew would be required, which would reduce the cost of the exercise.
Responding to fears expressed by Mr Drew Irving of Argos Ltd. that scallop fishing in certain areas might compromise the breeding of loligo squid, the Director of Fisheries said that this was unlikely due to the small size of the net deployed, but that the process would in any case be monitored by scientific observers from the Fisheries Department.
John Fowler (MP) Stanley
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