MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Spanish fishing companies could leave Patagonia: high costs and poor catches

Norberto Yahuar: “I’ll pay their air fares if they want to leave”

Spanish fishing companies, mostly from Galicia, operating in Argentina Patagonia are seriously considering leaving the country because of standing labour unrest, lack of national and provincial fisheries policies, the end to export reimbursements and above all a dramatic drop in common hake and squid catches.

However the only official Argentine government reaction has been from Fisheries Director Norberto Yahaur who was quoted saying that if the Galician companies want to leave, “they can do so; I’ll buy them the airline tickets and accompany them to the airport”.

According to Vigo’s La Voz de Galicia, closely linked to the region’s fishing industry, competing in Patagonia is extremely costly, almost 50% higher than in Buenos Aires. Besides the incentive policy for the companies to operate in Patagonia, the furthest from the Argentine capital the higher, after fifteen years has expired.

But in those fifteen years the regional government did not adopt any alternative policies to ensure that at the end of the period they would be cost competitive with Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata. Not only the Argentine government has eliminated tax reimbursements to fisheries exports from Patagonia, they must now also contribute with a 10% levy. (Not as skimming as with the oil seed and cereals exports that can reach 35%).

Labour unrest because of unions’ internal infighting in 2007 led to the torching of several Galician processing plants in Patagonia, and intimidation of the top staff from Galician fishing companies in Puerto Madryn “is quite common”, reports La Voz de Galicia.

The last demand from the unions is that Spanish companies ensure sufficient hake and other resources to keep the fleet and the processing plants operating, which is hard to comply given the total allowable quotas system and even more discouraging the “dramatic fall in common hake and squid catches” experienced in the last few years. This year’s squid season is considered the worst in the last twenty years.

“This season the jiggers came back with only 300 tons of squid, of which 100 of the catch was processed and the rest had to be sold whole because it was too small (SS). So we are virtually paralyzed, how can we then increase salaries or conditions?” a Spanish company director is quoted.

“And how in this country all in done by putting pressure, bullying, I guess we’ll end signing a new contract which we can’t honour, since even the prawn season has not been as near as good as we expected”, he added.

Apparently some unions could be prepared to consider lower salaries but this is not sufficient since the longshoremen (different union) and port costs keep increasing and the federal government levy on sanitary and quality controls has been increased 400%, points out the article in La Voz de Galicia.

Finally the article warns that the Galician companies could move to “friendlier” ports but this would be dramatic for Patagonian ports and the thousands who depend from the fisheries industry.