MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine hake landings confirm lack of fisheries management

Hake landings in the period January-March in 2009 and 2010

Latest official data from Argentina’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Sub-secretariat indicates that 41.163 tons of hake (Merluccius hubbsi) were landed in Argentine ports between 1 January and 29 March. This is 33.5% less than in the same quarter of 2009 when 61.886 tons were unloaded.

Of total landings this year, 40.707.7 tons were captured south of parallel 41° and 455.4 tons north of the same. These are the worst hake landings since 1992.

Ship owners complain that it is ever more difficult to find resources, and this is reflected in smaller yields and increased operating expenses, Pescare reports.

Meanwhile, the ecological organisation Wild Life Foundation Argentina (FVSA) warned that hake is experiencing one of its most severe crises on record, due mainly to over-fishing and the capture of juveniles.

Experts from the National Institute for Fisheries Research and Development (INIDEP) pointed out that the latest research survey on hake juveniles in the San Jorge gulf is not yet available, but preliminary results indicate they are negative.

Compounding this is the fact that vessels continue operating without a selectivity device that prevents the capture of juveniles, as they have stopped using the DEJUPA.

Members of the Hake Monitoring Commission in the Federal Fisheries Council (CFP) indicated days ago that “besides selectivity, extending the present areas of the ban must be considered for the protection of reproduction and the young”.

Argentina could lose 40% of its fish market if common hake capture does not follow the new requirements imposed by the European Union (EU) to import fish and shellfish, warned FVSA.
FVSA is demanding the “immediate implementation of devices that prevent juveniles capture and a 30% reduction in allowable catch in 2010”. (FIS)