MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Rising costs, poor catches and prices hit Argentine hake industry

Hake landing were 13% less than in 2006

Hake (Merluccius hubbsi) landings in Argentina totaled 189.756 tons to August 31, which is 13% less than the same period of 2006, according to figures released by the National Fisheries Sub-Secretariat, a branch of the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Foods, SAGP&A.

However in the private sector not everybody agrees with the statistics and claim that the drop in catches is greater. "We believe the landing figures are much lower than those stated; at least regarding the fresh fleet," according to the manager of the Chamber of Deep Sea Fisheries Vessel Owners, Dario Socrate, reported Pescare.Based on current prospects by the end of the year the total hake catch volume in Argentina is estimated to reach 300.000 tons, which would be roughly 50.000 tons less than the 353.552 tons of last year. According to SAGP&A numbers, 169.657.5 tons of hake were caught south of parallel 41º S, and the remaining 20.098,9 tons in other regions. Mar del Plata (Buenos Aires) received 109.584 tons of hake; Puerto Madryn (Chubut) 33.482,1 tons; Comodoro Rivadavia (Chubut) 17.521,8 tons; San Antonio Este (Rio Negro), 6.619,8 tons and Puerto Deseado (Santa Cruz) 6.615.9 tons. Fresh fish vessels landed 129.536,5 tons; freezer trawlers, 37.795,1 tons; coastal vessels 9.369 tons; estuary vessels, 7.339 tons; shrimp vessels, 3.583 tons, and surimi, 134 tons. Entrepreneurs from the Argentine hake fisheries sector are not only discouraged with the lower catches and even lower prospects but also with the drop in international prices and the soaring costs for the industry and labor disruptions. Last July/August a dispute with unions over payments and working conditions plus the energy shortage forced many processing plants to work short weeks or simply suspend all activities. Meantime the Mar del Plata based National Institute for Fisheries Research and Development, INIDEP, launched last month a scientific cruise survey of hake, extending from parallel 41 to parallel 48 South with the purpose of estimating biomass and particularly juvenile density in an area that has been subject to repeated catch bans. (FIS/MP).