MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine jiggers authorized to operate between parallels 44 and 48 South

The decision to move jigger operations further north was considered late

Since Saturday, January 15, zero hours, Argentine jiggers have been allowed to operate between parallel 44 and parallel 48 South, following the lack and/or minimum catches at the original specified area of parallels 49 to 52 S.

The head of the National Fisheries Coordination and Inspection department, Dr. Julian Suarez was responsible for the anticipated opening of the Illex squid season in the above area, and informed of the decision to the Coast Guard chief and to the Fisheries Research and Development Institute.

The Argentine site specialized in fisheries news, Pescare, indicates that the news arrived somehow late because there was ample information that the foreign jiggers operating at mile 200+ mile were managing good catches as well as the Argentine trawlers at similar latitude but in the Argentine EEZ, with considerable incidental volumes of up to 20%.

“It has been a great pity that having a witness fleet of over 280 jiggers, with good catches operating in latitude 45. they sent us to parallels 49 to 52 South. This is evidence of the little coordination between bureaucrats sitting in offices and our opinions, despite the fact we have been fishing in the Argentine Sea for over thirty years”, was a complaint recorded by a jigger captain. However it is also understandable that fishing between parallels 49/52 is intended to avoid the resource from abandoning the 200 miles and the 200 meter isobath.

Another complaint is that Argentine jiggers remain some five months docked, waiting for squid seasons, and demand a huge investment in provisions and fuel to prepare the vessels to operate, not to mention lost business, write offs, maintenance plus other costs, which demand that benefits are abundant and of quick recovery.

During the 2021 season, the average Argentine jigger caught some 1,593 tons, and with 72 vessels operating the total landings reached 114,662 tons.