MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Argentina squid landings very poor; jiggers could anticipate closure of the season
Official stats show that in the first 18 days of July the Illex catch was only 233.6 tons, and so far this season, cumulative landings have totaled 52,371 tons 
Most of squid caught have sizes between S and M, and the problem, according to Redini, it is that “this catch volume simply is not enough” Argentina reports poor results from the current Illex squid season and does not discard an anticipated closure if catches fail to recover. The president of the Argentine Chamber of Jigger Fishing Shipowners (CAPA), Juan Redini confirmed to the portal Pescare that only five to six vessels remain operational between parallels 40° and 42°, but with erratic course and catches.
“There were days when only 4 to 6 tons were caught; others when capture reached 10 tons, but that is all” told the media.
Most of squid caught have sizes between S and M, and the problem, according to Redini, it is that “this volume is not enough” because although prices have increased, there are also higher production expenses, and the sector has had two bad years.
At this time, most of the squid jigger fleet is moored and many owners consider the harvesting period is closed.
According to statistics from the Argentine Under Secretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture, in the first 18 days of July the Illex catch was only 233.6 tons, and so far this season, cumulative landings have totaled 52,371 tons, 60% less than in the same period of 2015.
Improving prices, which averaged US$ 1,900 per ton, 65% over last year, have brought some relief to the owners who managed some relatively modest catches, but vessels with less capacity and lower luminous power, the balance has been decisively negative, Redini underlines. (FIS)
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Read all commentsThis is down to the policies of CFK when she allowed her temper to overrule good sense. She ordered the over-fishing of squid to try to stop them reaching the waters of The Falklands. Another of her legacies.
Aug 05th, 2016 - 04:28 pm 0@1 Actually, there is another side of the CFK regime here as well. Although CFK called for overfishing to damage the possibility of a successful catch in the Falklands' waters, the Argie fishing fleet was woefully unprepared to actually take advantage of this opportunity. On the other hand, the majority of the catch in the area was from Chinese boats, and there were nearly 200 of them during that season. Since Argentina's ability to effectively guard its coasts and frontiers was degraded to nearly nonexistence under the Kirchners, the Chinese pirate fleet was at very little risk in its very active illegal illex fishing within Argentine waters, for which Argentina gained nothing. The occasional interception of a Chinese fishing boat by the overwhelmed Argentines was newsworthy but hardly made a dent in the Chinese take. Meanwhile, the Chinese (and others') fishing boats usually showed the good sense to not challenge the UK surveillance of the Falklands' waters.
Aug 05th, 2016 - 05:08 pm 0There is now an opportunity for Macri to pretend to take a mature interest in responsible multilateral agreements for decent protection of the illex production and harvest, which would necessarily involve Falklands' interests. But Macri is likely still too incompetent and otherwise distracted to make serious management moves in this area.
@2 Do you think he will challenge the Chinese given how dependent the economy is on investment from them?
Aug 05th, 2016 - 05:50 pm 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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