MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Squid catch normal according to fishery authorities

Squid jiggers are fishing well, and report normal performances for fisheries.

Argentina - The 2007 squid (Illex argentinus) season shows a “normal” development, affirmed the substitute President of the Federal Fisheries Council (CFP), Marcelo Santos.

"The season is developing within normal canons, with resource availability and the fleet operating," said Santos during a press conference held in Rio Gallegos (Santa Cruz), where the council met last week. According to the president of the CFP, vessels are fishing between 12 and 18 tonnes per night, and are arriving at Puerto Deseado (Santa Cruz), Puerto Madryn (Chubut), and other ports. Even though the landings recorded are still low compared to previous years, it is a consequence of the late harvest due to a union conflict, and not to lack of squid availability. In fact, the squid jiggers that commenced fishing as soon as the season opened, 1 February, had no difficulty filling their holds. Santos also said that according to provisional data by the National Fisheries Subsecretariat (SSPyA), a branch of the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Foods (SAGPyA), from 1 January to 16 March, this year, 21,667.3 tonnes of squid were unloaded. Specifically in January 2007 landings of squid equalled 581.5 tonnes, while in February 11,320.8 tonnes were reported, and March reported 9,765 tonnes. These volumes are lower than those recorded in 2006, landings of squid equalled 8,425.7 tonnes in January and February landed 53,827.2 tonnes. Up to last 16 March, Puerto Deseado led the ranking of landings in various port terminals with 13,029.5 tonnes of squid. In second place came Mar del Plata (Buenos Aires) with 5,887.9 tonnes, and Madryn landing 2,533.1 tonnes. The SAGPyA also informed that the national squid jiggers landed 15,898.7 tonnes of squid, trawlers landed 4,020.6 tonnes, and fresh fleets landed 1,712.8 tonnes in Argentine ports. In an effort to avoid a collapse in prices, due to a glut in the market, some members of the sector chose to fish moderate catches, limited to larger-sized fish, versus larger volumes. (FIS)