“The Southwest Atlantic is the largest body of water in the in the world without a RFMO (regional fisheries management organization) and that’s something the Falkland Islands are very keen to see put in place,” said James Bates, Executive Secretary from the Falkland Islands Fishing Companies Association at the 2024 Seafood Expo Global in Barcelona, Spain this week.
One of the whale populations taken to the edge of extinction by commercial hunting in the early 20th Century has essentially recovered its numbers. It's estimated the humpbacks that frequent the southwest Atlantic once totaled perhaps 27,000 animals.
Falkland Islands catches of Illex squid surpassed this week the previous record annual catch by 2,022 tons. That record was 266,201 tons in 1999 and Director of Natural Resources John Barton reported midmorning on Thursday that the 2014 catch had just has just overtaken that at 268,223 tons.