MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

INIDEP toothfish workshop as part of Argentina's Fisheries Improvement Project

Toothfish, Dissostichus eleginoides, was described as a resource of very high economic value in different world markets, given the quality of its flesh

A toothfish workshop in the framework of an ambitious Fisheries Improvement Project sponsored by Argentina's National Fisheries Research and Development Institute, INIDEP, took place with the participation of a Chilean expert, Professor Christian Canales who teaches at the Valparaiso University.

The workshop theme was “Estimate of the Biologic Point of Objective Reference” as an approximation to the maximum sustainable performance. and a definition of the toothfish catch rules.

Dr. Canales was supported by INIDEP researchers from the Austral and Sub Antarctic Demersal Fisheries program and the first debate was abundance indexes and the assessment of the current exploitation of the resource, plus an analysis of the different catch control rules.

Toothfish, Dissostichus eleginoides, was described as a resource of very high economic value in different world markets, given the quality of its flesh, plus being considered one of the outstanding species of the austral ocean.

It is a species with great longevity, slow in maturing and behavior and thus highly sensitive to over exploitation, which makes its fisheries one of the most regulated in the Southwestern Atlantic ocean.

In the mid eighties trawlers and longliners started toothfish exploitation, with a predominance of trawling and the establishment of fishing quotas for the species