MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina: So far, no changes in hake quotas

The current hake (Merluccius hubbsi) fishing quotas are to be maintained at least until the results of the recent surveys on the resource are evaluated, said National Undersecretary of Fisheries Gerardo Nieto.

"We are facing a serious crisis in hake production as a sustainable product, which prompted us to take tough, strong, and solid management measures that allowed for some kind of recovery," said Nieto in the City of Comodoro Rivadavia.

The undersecretary said that in 2000, a total 110,000 tonnes had been allocated, whereas this year, the total allocated volume amounts to 380,000 tonnes. "This has to be maintained within that control limit, in order to continue with our sustainability process for fisheries resources, without running the risk of drawing to a new crisis on any of the resources," he stated.

Nieto pointed out the need to learn from errors and to avoid repeating them. "It is necessary to maintain an organised and satisfactory process, chiefly aimed at achieving the resources' sustainability and, secondly, at having an adequate income system that may allow for good profits and a reasonable exploitation of the resource," he added.

The official said that quotas are allotted through specific calculations based on the catch history of the vessels involved, and emphasised that, for the time being, they will not be increased because "total allowable catches have a definite total volume."

If the data obtained in the recent hake research campaigns show that it is possible to increase the TAC without compromising the resource, only then a new quota allocation could be made, he explained.

According to statistics published by the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, and Foods (SAGPyA), provisional hake catches between 1 January and 1 March have totalled 50,220 tonnes. (FIS)