MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chubut processing plants have exhausted hake quota.

Members from the Chamber of Fisheries And Fresh Fish Processing Companies of the Gulf of San Jorge (CAEPPEFRE) in Argentine Patagonia have warned that all fresh fish vessels operating out of the Port of Comodoro Rivadavia, Chubut province, have already exhausted the hake (Merluccius hubbsi) quota allocated by the federal government in early January 2005.

The situation threatens the supply of hake for inland processing plants and jeopardizes the continuity of operations, added CAEPPEFRE.

Sector sources explained that the high rate of hake catches in the Gulf of San Jorge has prompted Chubut fishing vessels to exhaust the quarterly quota allocated by the federal authorities in just 12 effective fishing days.

According to Diario de Madryn, licence holders from Comodoro Rivadavia are planning to meet provincial legislators to discuss the difficult situation they are facing and also request they intercede before Argentina's Agriculture, Livestock, Food and Fisheries ministry so that an annual 50,000-tonne hake quota be allocated to them.

One of the alternatives being analysed by fresh fish stakeholders is to fish other species such as pollock, although they believe that in order to do so, they must modify their vessels, and they doubt that it will be really profitable.

Stakeholders from Comodoro Rivadavia said that the annual allocation of a 50,000 to 60,000-tonne hake quota, as the one awarded to the Rawson yellow fleet, could be a solution.

"The 21 fresh fish vessels that operated last year in the Gulf of San Jorge have landed around 50,000 tonnes" said a local owner of a fisheries company.

Some industry representatives have anticipated that if a solution is not reached in the coming days, they intend to protest by blocking Patagonia's main route. (FIS/MP).