MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Blasting audit report on Argentina's Fisheries Secretariat

Argentina's National Auditing Office accused the country's Fisheries Secretariat of lack of controls and transparency which have driven the hubssi and Illex squid resources to “the limit” because of over fishing.

"Lack of controls" and "lack of transparency" are pushing the two resources to almost extinction says the report based on the auditing of the Fisheries Office controls and activities between 2002 and 2006. The Auditing Office which depends from Congress points out that the lack of controls was particularly serious regarding hake trawlers and squid jiggers. "The absence of effective control measures for a least the last ten years is pushing these two resources to the edge of extinction". However according to the Buenos Aires press, sources close to the Fisheries Secretariat Office rejected the claims insisting that the report does not include the control and conservation measures which have been implemented since 2007 and in 2008. Opposition members of Congress claim that the audit only comes to prove that there has always been "a cozy relation between the Kirchners and the fishing companies in Patagonia, such is the case of Conarpesca. The Fisheries Secretariat that is headed by Gerardo Nieto recalled that the hake ban was first established in 1999, following a strong campaign from Greenpeace and other environmental organizations. Regarding squid this remains a source of permanent conflict with the United Kingdom since the Falkland Islands awards "25-year licences" for a resource which migrates continually between Argentine waters and those controlled by the British. The Audit Office 140 pages report points out that five years after the first report on the state of fisheries, "it still has not reached or achieved the necessary control over the resources to prevent excess exploitation of the fisheries to ensure sustainability". The Fisheries Secretariat in Argentina is responsible for establishing total catch quotas and extending licences to the vessels involved. Argentina's fisheries industry exports annually on average a billion US dollars. One of the main items in the auditors report refers to the fact that "differences between declared catches and what was effectively checked by inspectors when unloading in fishing ports are not reported to the Legal Department". In seven out of fourteen vessels audited it surfaced that the catch report from the vessel's captain "was not done correctly" violating the Fisheries Federal Law in spite of the fact that the difference between catches and unloading volume could in some cases "reach 300%". Furthermore from the Fisheries inspectors' reports on board the vessels "it can be seen they do not proceed to write an "infringement report" and in many cases "fake the fisheries registry". Furthermore most vessels do not apply the mandatory selective equipment, Dejupa, which allows the juveniles to space and thus helping to preserves the hake fisheries. However the illegal fishing control system in Argentine waters proved effective: between 2002 and 2006, the Navy and Coast Guard caught 17 foreign flagged poachers and the Fisheries Office collected in fines and forfeitures the equivalent of almost nine million US dollars. The report concludes saying that "the absences detected in the control and follow up of fishing operations conspire against resources sustainability and empty of all content current legislation".