The southern Patagonian appeared and the illex squid catches went up

ARGENTINA
Wednesday, March 03, 2021, 21:00 (GMT + 9)

The jigging fleet fishes it at the edge of 200 miles above 48 ° 30´S with yields exceeding 20 tons per day. From CAPA they warn of a slowdown in sales and a drop in the prices of the whole due to the catches of the foreign fleet in the South Atlantic.

The squid season seems to have regained its pulse after the jigging fleet that operates in the southern management unit found a good mark of the south-Patagonian Buenos Aires stock at the height of 48 ° 30´S, on the limit of the exclusive economic zone where it is centered the entire fleet.

According to data coming from the fishing zone, there are about 70 vessels fishing in the area and the INIDEP was waiting for new reports for the biweekly report that will be delivered this Friday in the framework of monitoring the fishery.

“Luckily it appeared and the yields rose. The catches of the last nights vary between 20 and 30 tons per day. It's a good size, mostly M ”, validated Juan Redini, president of CAPA.

How long it can last or how long the detected mark can reach is a great unknown since there is no current scientific knowledge about this stock that allows us to know its level of abundance and areas of concentration. In December the Holmberg campaign did not reach that far south and the February one on the Angelescu was canceled due to problems on the ship.

“They cannot go further south because there is the Malvinas exclusion area. It is an area where there were good years and others not so much. Outside the 200 miles it is common for the foreign fleet to fish ”, summed up an expert on the fishery. “It is what is known as the Blue Hole; there the SSP fishing is concentrated separated by the EEZ line ”, he added.

► Foreign fleet fishing on the edge of the EEZ and vessels in the Malvinas area (File satellite photo)

Beyond the fact that the irregularity in the catches seems clear, at least for now, other problems arise among the jigger owners: the fall in the price of squid and the abrupt halt in sales.

“It is the worst of all. Europe is practically closed after the new wave of infected. China seems to be a little better but we do not want to sell there because of the barriers that exist. Containers suffer many delays at ports, they are left for 30 days due to the Covid issue. The truth is that the situation is quite complicated, "said Redini.

In that sense, the arms leader acknowledged that today in this context some Chinese companies do not sell to China because they force them to commit, by contract, to return the money if the container with the squid load is detected the presence of Covid at destination.

Foreign fleet fishing outside the 200 million limit of the Argentine EEZ (Photo: Argentine Coast Guard)

Last week, before this mark was touched and catches improved, part of the fleet had descended from 45 ° S to 47 ° 30´S above the EEZ line, where they found the highest abundance, although with specimens of very varied size from SS to M. They continued looking for it further south and now what INIDEP believes to be the southpatagonic stock has appeared more sustained.

“We are fishing alongside hundreds of Chinese boats, which no matter how little they fish, in a month, together, they lift 90 thousand tons and that goes to the same market as our production. Part of the brake on sales is explained by this. And it is already at two thousand dollars a ton the whole and less too ”, lamented Redini.

Photo: Revista Puerto

CAPA announced that they have requested the authorities of the Undersecretariat to meet with the Squid Monitoring Commission to analyze this month and a half of the season, but there is no confirmed date yet.

Until February 24, according to official statistics, the squid season accumulated 43,748 tons. Of this total, 37,981 tons were contributed by the jigging fleet and 5,400 tons by freezer trawlers.

Author: Roberto Garrone  / Revista Puerto

editorial@seafood.media
www.seafood.media

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