MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine fisheries landings down 10.8% in first quarter; squid down 45.4%

Squid landings during the first quarter reached 29.800 tons, well below a year ago

Argentine seafood landings decreased by 10.8% in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period of 2014, according to the latest release from the Under Secretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

 The Situation Report, indicates that in the first three months of this year 144,997.2 tons of fish resources were landed compared to 162,641.8 tons a year earlier, with squid experiencing a fall of 45.4%.

In effect, squid (Illex argentinus), one of the most important items of Argentine fisheries, experienced a decline of 45.4%, totaling 29,825.9 tons in the first quarter, while during the same period 2014 the landings reached 54,653.5 tons.

But the resource that experienced the sharpest drop was the anchovy (Engraulis anchoita), with catches falling from 11.3 tons in 2014 to only 1.5 tons in the same period of 2015, that is to say, 87.2%.

Other resources that recorded lower landings were the mackerel (Scomber japonicus), with 78.4 tons and a fall of 64.9%; southern blue whiting (Micromesistius australis) with 1,804.5 tons and a 44.6% drop and the white-mouth croaker with 3,355.3 tons, down 38.2% in the first quarter of 2014.

Likewise 49,705.5 tons of hake (Merluccius hubbsi) were landed between January and March 2015, a figure almost equal to 49,644.5 tons of last year.

In addition, shrimp (Pleoticus muelleri) landings grew from 15,188.2 tons in the first three months of 2014 to 17,534.9 tons this year, up 15.5%.

On the bright side Toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides): jumped from 462.6 to 1968.6 tons (325.6%; Red snapper (Sparus pagrus): from 919.1 to 1077.3 tons, up 17.2%; Seabass (Acanthistius brasiliensis): from 337.4 to 480.1 tons, an increase of 42.3%; Sea trout (Cynoscion striatus): from 3027.2 to 4975.9 tons, up 64.4%. (FIS).