MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Spanish concern over Argentine stance on Falkland fisheries

Senator Silvia Giusti

Representatives from the General Secretariat of Maritime Fisheries (SGPM) and the Spanish General Directorate of Fisheries Resources met with the Argentine lawmaker Silvia Giusti in the Argentine Senate for talks over the bill that tacitly proposes eliminating the so called “double permits.”

Visiting executives, SGPM head, Juan Carlos Martín Fragueiro, and Fisheries Resources director-general, Fernando Curcio intend on understanding in detail the scope of the Argentine situation of the fishing activities in the Falkland Islands, considering that many fishing companies hold economic interests there. According to Senator Giusti, the bill that tacitly seeks to eliminate the so-called "double permits" prevents companies settled in the country, many of them from Spain, from exploiting fishing licenses jointly granted by the Argentine and Falkland's Government. "Spanish companies are going to choose Argentine permits. In fact, many of them announced it publicly and that was one of the findings of the meeting," Giusti pointed out. Some months ago, a reporter indicated that the companies Pescanova, Grupo Pescapuerta S.A., and Grupo Pereira would prefer to go on operating with national permits and leave the Falklands. Their priority was to fish Argentine red shrimp (Pleoticus muelleri), common hake (Merluccius hubbsi) and Argentine shortfin squid (Illex argentinus) in Argentine waters. By the end of the meeting, the Argentine senator stated that "this law represents an important and effective change to regulate the fishing activity". Nevertheless, representatives from local chambers of commerce maintained that it will be difficult to control true compliance with law, above all, due to the flow of capital, the website Pescare reported. As for fishing licenses, the Argentine and British governments have not reached an agreement yet over fishing activities in the Falklands. Last July, Falklands' Fisheries Director, John Barton, confirmed that, up to now, eight fishing companies had 25 years permits to fish in the South Atlantic Ocean surrounding the isles, in spite of the Argentine Government's unanimous rejection this measure (FIS)