MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Common hake topped domestic fishery port landings

Up to last 30 September, common hake (Merluccius hubbsi) was the Argentine Sea's species highest-ranked in the country's port landings, with a total of 221,904.9 tonnes.

The port of Mar del Plata led rankings for landings, with about 62 per cent, or 138,008 tonnes, according to statistics by Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food Secretariat (SAGPyA).

Puerto Madryn was second, with 34,104.2 tonnes of common hake, and was followed by Comodoro Rivadavia, totalling 15,338.7 tonnes.

Meanwhile, up until last 30 September, 141,086.2 tonnes of Argentine shortfin squid (Illex argentinus) were landed in total for all Argentine ports.

Port terminals registering biggest squid landings were: Mar del Plata, with 54,067.5 tonnes; Puerto Madryn, with 44,496.5 tonnes; and Puerto Deseado, with 33,968.3 tonnes.

The maximum peaks were registered between February and June, during the squid fleet's operative period. In the subsequent months, squid landings came from the trawling fleet's by-catch landings.

The most profitable species in the Argentine Sea is Argentine red shrimp (Pleoticus muelleri), with landings amounting to 6,252.1 tonnes up to the last days of September 2005.

Meanwhile, not only the fishing sector, but also authorities are anxiously expecting to see what will happen in Chubut when the government will soon initiate the fishing season in Gulf of San Jorge waters.

Port terminals that concentrated most of the landings were Puerto Deseado, with 3,336.7 tonnes of shrimp; Puerto Madryn, with 823.8 tonnes; and Comodoro Rivadavia, with 792.2 tonnes.

Regarding Patagonian scallop (Zygochlamis patagonica), landings up to last 30 September were pegged at 3,708.1 tonnes in the country. The bulk of these, at 2,520.4 tonnes, was landed in Mar del Plata, and the remainder, in Ushuaia.

SAGPyA statistics reveal that Mar del Plata accounted for almost 50 per cent of the total landings of fish, mollusc, and crustacean, by handling 313,504.1 tonnes.

Puerto Madryn followed with registered landings of 113,712.9 tonnes (18 per cent of the total at the national level), and lastly Ushuaia, with 68,278 tonnes.(FIS)