Argentina is modifying some regulations regarding squid fisheries. According to Resolution 7 from the Federal Fisheries Council, all jiggers and trawlers involved in squid operations must have at least 20% of their catches processed on land.
As the catching season seemed over for Puerto Deseado's fleet, the new finding brought relief to the squid sector and work now may continue for a while.
The 2021 Argentine squid season. south of parallel 44, takes off next 16 January, according to the country's Fisheries Federal Council, following on the scientific report from Inidep, the national fisheries research and development institute.
The Falkland Islands are expecting some 105 jiggers to take the Illex licenses, which is a “normal” number for the season while preliminary results anticipate an abundant catch. “The usual” 105 jiggers plus one trawler has accepted the Illex license offers, confirmed earlier in the week Director of Natural Resources Dr Andrea Clausen.
A Chinese flagged jigger sank after colliding with a Spanish flagged trawler on Friday morning to the northwest of the Falkland Islands. All thirty crew members have been rescued by other fishing vessels, and are heading for Montevideo, according to the latest reports from the Argentine Coast Guard. The collision involved the jigger V Zhong Yuan Yu 11 and the trawler Pesca Vaqueiro, which went undamaged.
While the Spanish fleet of fishing vessels, many of them partners of Falkland Islands companies have started leaving Vigo for the South Atlantic to begin the Loligo season on 24 February, Argentine licensed jiggers operating south of parallel 44 have been catching some 25 tons per day per vessel of Illex, according to the first reports from Pescare.com.ar.
The squid fishing season in the South Atlantic, operating with Argentine licenses, has started with good prospects and a moderate optimism of the sector. During the first week jiggers reported daily average catches that oscillated between 28 and 35 tons, according to Pescare, an Argentine fish industry publication. .
Fishing on the high seas (*) can present a serious problem for fisheries management, but the Falkland Islands Senior Fisheries Scientist Alexander (Sasha) Arkhipkin has been making a heavy contribution to international collaborations to attempt to deal with some of that impact.
A floating city of lights belonging to hundreds of jiggers, mostly Asians, operating in the grey fringes of the South Atlantic Argentine Economic Exclusive Zone, EEZ, at the 200 miles borderline have been filmed and monitored night after night by Argentine navy patrol aircraft, reports the Patagonia media.
China's Pingtan Marine has announced the launch of two new squid jiggers, bound for the southwest Atlantic and southeast Pacific oceans. The two newly-completed vessels should reach fishing grounds by late December, and sales of squid catches are then expected to begin in the first quarter of 2017.