
The New Zealand Maori co-owned deep-sea fishing company Sealord is walking away from its disastrous hoki venture in Argentina with an estimated 60 million dollars loss, reports the NZ media.

The Argentine government confirmed a fine of 5.3 million Pesos (approx 800.000 Euros) and another 300.000 Euros to liberate the forfeited catch on board, mostly squid, of the Spanish flagged vessel ‘Piscator’ caught last 2 July allegedly illegally operating in Argentine waters and which remains retained in Puerto Madryn.

The Spanish government believes an “error of appreciation” was committed in the incident involving the Galician trawler “Piscator” captured this week in the South Atlantic allegedly operating in Argentine waters. Spain is hopeful that the situation will be resolved in “coming hours”.

The Argentine Coast Guard (the Prefectura) has captured a Spanish flagged vessel in waters of the Argentine Sea that was carrying out fishing activities presumed to be without authorisation, Coast Guard sources confirmed to EFE today.

An Argentine Coast Guard vessel during a routine patrol caught a Chinese flagged jigger with 180 tons of fresh squid in its hold, and is now being escorted to the Patagonian port of Puerto Madryn where she is expected to arrive Wednesday midday.

The most probable death cause of the Chinese crewmembers from two jiggers in quarantine outside the port of Montevideo was lack of sufficient nutrient and balanced food plus tropical parasitosis, according to the primary forensic reports from Uruguayan health authorities.

Two Chinese jiggers are in quarantine 12 kilometres off the port of Montevideo following the death of two crew members and the hospitalization of another two in separate incidents.

For the first time the Falkland Islands have underlined the significance of the hydrocarbons industry as a fully integrated sector of the local economy as it effectively and successfully moves from the exploration to the exploitation stage with first shipments scheduled for 2017. At the same time it regrets that South American companies are not participating of the logistical opportunities because of Argentine interference.

Falkland Islands Government Director of Natural Resources John Barton said that he is confident that there won’t be any repetition in the future of recent offences by companies licensed to fish in Falklands waters.

UK conditioned a possible re-launching of agreements on hydrocarbons and fisheries in the South Atlantic to Argentina accepting ‘there will be no sovereignty negotiations’ regarding the Malvinas Islands and called for the Argentine government to respect the wishes of the Falkland Islanders.