Image: Stockfile FIS

Santa Cruz Disregards Agreement to Not Fish Shrimp in the Gulf

ARGENTINA
Tuesday, April 30, 2024, 01:00 (GMT + 9)

Through a provision, it ended the agreement of the Federal Fisheries Council of 2018 that helped sustain the fishery at 200 thousand tons. With it falls the Nation's social quota that they intend to renegotiate. In addition, it requires Santa Cruz permit holders to download and process between 50 and 100 percent of their catches in the province.

The Secretary of Fisheries of Santa Cruz, Harold John Bark, ended a cycle of protection of the Patagonian shrimp with the signing of Resolution 61 that establishes management measures for the capture and processing of the resources of the San Jorge Gulf. Since 2018, fishing was prohibited, based on an agreement with the province of Chubut and since then both provinces have received a social quota in compensation of 3,800 tons of shrimp. When the agreement falls, the validity of that quota for both provinces also falls. With this measure, the Santa Cruz government seeks to generate pressure to increase the quota and activity in ports and plants in its province, requiring its permit holders to download and process between 50 and 100 percent of their catches in Santa Cruz. The issue will be debated in the Federal Fisheries Council, when it meets; Bark claims to have the support of Chubut to seek to sustain the agreement in exchange for more tons.

“The provinces of Chubut and Santa Cruz undertake not to allow the capture of the shrimp species in the entire San Jorge Gulf for the current year and up to a period of five years, a commitment whose continuity will be expressly communicated to the Authority. of Application before December 1 of the previous year”, is indicated in Resolution 7 of the Federal Fisheries Council that established the management standards for the shrimp fishery.

<-- Source: Stockfie FIS

In the second article of that chapter of the Resolution, the CFP authorizes compensation for the commitment assumed by both provinces, assigning them 3,800 tons annually to be used by the wet fish trawlers they nominate, with these vessels having to land the entire shrimp catches in these provinces.

This agreement was very important for the preservation of the shrimp given that it protects its reproduction and growth, feeding the concentrations that the entire fleet captures in national waters, helping to maintain the shrimp fishery at levels of 200 thousand tons, as the researchers of the INIDEP in several reports.

“Based on the excellent results that arise from the interjurisdictional management model applied, with the support of the Provinces of Chubut and Santa Cruz, which has allowed us to increase shrimp catches and optimize their exploitation, generating a significant impact on employment and productive development, it is considered appropriate to extend the period originally contemplated, until the end of the annual period 2028 inclusive,” is indicated in the latest resolution of the CFP that renewed the agreement in 2022.

Source: Stockfie FIS

This agreement had to be rectified in December of last year but at the request of the then Secretary of Fisheries of Santa Cruz and with the acceptance of the rest of the representatives of the Federal Fisheries Council, it was decided to extend the renewal until March so that the new authorities could decide. about its continuity.

But we are reaching the month of May without the CFP having held a single meeting and the new Secretary of Fisheries of Santa Cruz has signed a provision that establishes management measures for the capture and processing of hake and shrimp within the San Jorge Gulf, ignoring the interjurisdictional agreement.

Source: Stockfie FIS

Through Provision 61, hake and shrimp fishing is enabled in provincial waters for Santa Cruz permit holders who comply with new limitations on engine power and trawling speed, and must unload and process 100% of what is caught in provincial waters and 50% of what is caught in provincial waters. captured in national waters, in ports of Santa Cruz.

Although the measure is extreme and dangerous for the health of the resource, the objective of the Santa Cruz government is not to ignore the protection of the crustacean, according to Secretary Bark. He assures that they will continue to manage it jointly with Chubut and that what they seek is to establish new conditions for its renewal.

Source: Revista Puerto

It is logical that Santa Cruz seeks to review the volume of compensation, given that the province of Buenos Aires, without having made any waiver, has a quota of 5,000 tons of shrimp. Perhaps the Santa Cruz provision, which has several errors, is nothing more than a pressure tool to improve the conditions of the agreement, something that is unnecessary if one takes into account the fact that its annual renewal grants it that possibility.

Among the new management measures established by Santa Cruz, the limit engine power is 1500 HP when the national standard establishes 2000 HP and, on the other hand, with respect to fishing operations, it sets a limit trawl time for 90 minutes, while Nación establishes 60 minutes, seeking a lower impact on shrimp and hubbsi hake.

Source: Stockfie FIS

The lack of interest of the national government in the fishing sector, materialized in the lack of functioning of the Federal Fisheries Council, has generated its first serious consequence. Harold Bark has already indicated that it will be his topic to be discussed in the Council as soon as the first meeting takes place, which has not yet been officially confirmed. Had this collegiate body been functioning, this stage probably would not have been reached.

Since the issuance of this provision, Santa Cruz and Chubut have lost the quota of 3,800 tons and this will continue if the CFP does not accept the new conditions. If you accept them and the agreement is renewed, everything will have returned to its place from a biological point of view. What is not so clear is whether Santa Cruz will be able to solve its problems of lack of activity, just with a few more tons. The fact that companies in recent years have chosen to operate in other ports responds to other issues, such as costs; and above all to the high and extreme conflictivity of their unions, a problem that is even more difficult to solve.

Author: Karina Fernández | Revista Puerto (Translated from the original in Spanish)

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