MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

A successful May for Falklands' fishery

May was another successful month for the Falkland Islands fishery with the total catch of 28.061 tonnes being the highest catch for May in the last five years. A total of 72 licenses were valid in May, including 43 licenses for jiggers.

After the relatively warm years of 2004-2005, oceanographic conditions in the Southwest Atlantic are back to normal this year. Illex squid responded well to this favourable change in the environment, showing classic migration patterns. Both stocks, so-called early (ESPS) and late (LSPS) migrating South Patagonian Stocks were abundant and appeared in Falkland waters at times and venues they were expected to.

Like most migratory animals, at the end of autumn squid aggregate into large schools and begin their distant migrations to the subtropical waters of Uruguay and southern Brazil to have their only nuptial dance followed by a swift death after spawning.

Disintegration of the warm inflow in the northwest of FICZ and subsequent autumn cooling of the sea surface to 8-9°C did not affect Illex migrations from the Patagonian Shelf through Falkland waters. The first to go were ESPS squid, migrating from the northern part of the Shelf, followed by the LSPS squid migrating from the south.

Simultaneous presence of both stocks during the first week of May resulted in a stable and excellent performance of the jigging fishery. Average catches ranged between 30 and 45 tonnes per night, with some vessels having as much as 90-108 tonnes of squid per night. Amazingly, high catches of Illex resulted in fewer jiggers on the fishing grounds. From the total of 43 licensed vessels, only 32-33 were fishing each night with the rest being either on the way to or in Berkeley Sound for transhipping.

Complete emigration of the ESPS squid by the middle of the month caused a significant drop in catches down to 19- 20 tonnes per night. This decline in the fishery was further aggravated by frequent stormy weather that predominated over the Falklands in the second half of the month. During storms, the jiggers could not work at full power and took only four to eight tonnes per night, with about a third of them just heaving to and waiting for the weather to improve.

Their patience was rewarded after the storms when the catches returned back to the norm of 20-25 tonnes per night. However, a fierce three-day storm with gale force northerly winds in the last week of May blew away the captains' hopes for the good fishing. Following northward migrations of the LSPS squid, the majority of jiggers left Falklands' waters by the end of the month with only eight vessels remaining and taking 8-11 tonnes per night.

Trawlers did not appear to be interested in fishing for Illex both on the high seas and in the FICZ, preferring instead to go for more valuable hake and other demersal finfish. Illex was taken by them only as a by-catch of 1-3 tonnes with a maximum 10 tonnes per day.

It is expected that the Illex fishery will end in the early part of June, when the last schools of the LSPS large squid (32-35 cm mantle length) emigrate from the FICZ.

Finfish.- Among finfish, the main target species was hoki, with the total catch of 2.184 tonnes being the second highest catch in May in the last decade. It was targeted by both Spanish and Falkland trawlers mainly in the western part of FICZ.

The number of vessels fishing for hoki decreased throughout the month from 12-13 trawlers in the beginning and 6-10 trawlers by the end. Average catches were variable, ranging from four to twelve tonnes per day. Some vessels reported a significant discard of small-sized hoki, which they could not process.

The high abundance of hake this year continues to surprise the fishermen. The total catch of 1.002 tonnes almost reached the record catch of 1.065 tonnes observed in May 1998. Some trawlers whose owners had not bought a special hake license struggled to find a good fishing ground to be able to fish for other finfish species and to keep the by-catch of abundant hakes within the allowed limits ( <10%).

Catches of red cod and especially kingclip were well above the average catches in May in the last four years.

On the contrary, catches of toothfish reduced further after the record catch of March. Both longliners started to fish only in the second week of May and had quite poor catches usually not exceeding 2.5 tonnes per day.

Technical problems in the factory forced the Uruguayan scalloper Holberg to abandon part of its remaining quota and leave the fishery earlier than expected. (Penguin News)