MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina sets TAC for hoki, Patagonian toothfish and southern blue whiting

Hoki is captured mainly by trawlers that process catches on board.

Argentina’s Federal Fisheries Council (CFP) announced 2009 total allowable catch (CMP) for hoki (Macruronus magellanicus), Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) and southern blue whiting (Micromesistius australis), reflecting an effort to better conserve and manage these resources.

Resolution 17/09 states hoki’s TAC at 170.000 tonnes, compared to the 190.000 tons of 2008. The decision follows the findings of Technical Report 37/09 from the National Institute for Fisheries Research and Development (INIDEP), which reveals that since 2001 “a slight declination of the effective size, with smaller average recruitments (of hoki)” has been recorded.

Nevertheless, the report also emphasises that years 2001 and 2004 were important and contributed “to the stabilisation and the observed abundance over the last few years.” The total estimated biomass at the beginning of 2008 was of 1.2 million tons.

According to INIDEP, the level of extraction corresponding to the biologically acceptable capture (CBA) projected for this year was estimated between 89.000 and 156.000 tons, Pescare reports.

The hoki is captured mainly by trawlers that process catches on board, and the largest volume is found in the Atlantic Ocean, south of 45° South.

Patagonian toothfish TAC was fixed at 2.500 tons, and southern blue whiting at 60.000 tons, with the aim of balancing biological and commercial interests.

CFP indicated that the fishery of Patagonian toothfish “shows a trend towards stability and the existence of some positive signs, like the low proportion of juvenile specimens present in the catch.”

According to data furnished by the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food (SAGP&A), Argentine ports received 67.766.3 tons of hoki between 1 January and 1 October 2009, 18% less than in the first nine months of 2008 when 82.759.6 tons were landed.

Patagonian toothfish landings totalled 1.050,5 tons through 1 October, 36% less than the 1.647,7 tons landed in the same period last year. Finally, 13.118 tons of southern blue whiting were landed this year, 9.8% more than the first nine months of 2008 when 11.945.7 tons were unloaded. (FIS)