Shrimp Trawler. (Photo: Cedepesca)

The shrimp is heading for another record year

ARGENTINA
Tuesday, October 13, 2015, 22:30 (GMT + 9)

The volume of shrimp catches reports a sustained upward trend, achieving over 93,000 tonnes. Puerto Deseado, Puerto Madryn and Rawson account for almost 80 per cent of the landings of the species.

Reports on catches have been confirming the upward trend in the volume of shrimp landings in different national ports, making it possible to predict that it would be another record year in catch tonnes although the fishery faces the difficulties markets face as to price retraction, the effects of devaluations of other currencies, and the sustained increase in domestic production prices, according to Nuestromar Foundation.

Related to catches, between 1 January and 30 September 2015 a total of 92,953 tonnes of shrimp was landed, consolidating the upward trend that the landings of that species have been recording in recent years. Increasing capture levels of the crustacean and the decline recorded in the landings of other species (eg. Illex squid, coastal species), lead to the participation in the total shrimp landings in the country has increased from 10 per cent in 2013 and 14 per cent in 2014 to the current 16 per cent.

Evolution per port

The main ports that concentrate landings of the species are Puerto Deseado, Puerto Madryn and Rawson, which accumulate 77 per cent of total landings. Puerto Deseado, with 27,465 tonnes, heads the list in turn showing a growth of 13.6 per cent and 18.2 per cent compared with 2013 and 2014, respectively. Puerto Madryn and Rawson accumulate similar landings for the period, exceeding 22,000 tonnes each. While in the case of Puerto Madryn these values represent a remarkable growth in comparison with 2013 (+ 37 per cent), as contrasted with the values of 2014 a drop of about 10 per cent is observed. Rawson holds an upward trend when compared with both 2013 (+ 150.2 per cent) and in 2014 (+ 34.9 per cent). Among other ports, the growth of catches landed in Mar del Plata is remarkable, with 5,299 tonnes, reaching a comparative growth of 184 per cent over 2013 and 155 per cent over 2014.

While these values are not quantitatively significant in terms of the total catch of shrimp, they led this port to grow 3 points in the whole country, reaching 5.7 per cent.

Per type of fleet

Regarding the type of fleet that made the catch, the Ministry of Agriculture's Office in its updated report stated to 30 September that the freezer shrimp fishing fleet that has captured 61,064 tonnes of shrimp, which means a growth of 19.2 per cent from 2013 and 6.2 per cent from 2014. Even with this increased levels in their catch tendency, the shrimp fishing freezer fleet reduced its participation in the total shrimp catch: up to September 2013 the fleet had fished 77.8 per cent of the total, while through September this year that percentage dropped to 65.7 per cent. This variation is mainly due to the strong increase in the activity of the distant coastal fleet in the analyzed fishery. This fleet, with base mainly in Rawson, in 2015 has caught more than 22,700 tonnes, representing a growth of 121.4 per cent compared with 2013 and 33.9 per cent in 2014. In the total shrimp catch, the distant coastal fleet increased its participation by 9 points and changed from fishing 15.6 per cent of the 2013 total to 24.5 per cent of 2015 total. Meanwhile, the 8,591 tonnes caught by its fresh fish fleet represent a growth of 130.8 per cent compared to 2013, as compared to 2014, show a decrease of 10.6 per cent.

Increase in boats

Both the freezer shrimp fishing fleet and the distant coastal fleet show a growth in the number of vessels participating in the fishery. In 2015 there have been landings of catches by 80 beam trawlers freezer vessels (6 more than in the last two biennium) and 60 coastal vessels, ie, 10 more than in 2013 and 4 more than in 2014. The other fleets, even if they registered more vessels engaged in the fishery than in 2013, have reduced the number of units in comparison with 2014. This makes the overall number of vessels fishing for shrimp to be reduced by 10 units compared to the last year.

The official report mentioned in another section that while the freezer shrimp fishing fleet has increased as well as its catches, there has been a drop of nearly 5 per cent in total compared to 2014. The growth in the catches of the species by the remote coastal fleet, was accompanied by an increase in both the number of vessels involved in the fishery as in the increase in the number of fishing trips oriented to that catch (+ 14 per cent compared to 2014).

Market Issue

As in the past two years, in Puerto Deseado they operated exclusively with shrimp fishing freezer fleet vessels, increasing the number of units from 39 to 44. Furthermore, in Puerto Madryn that fleet does not operate exclusively, but with a clear dominance, since the catches by vessels involved 39 ships (drop of 9 compared to 2014) representing more than 90 per cent of shrimp landings in that port. 98per cent of the landings in Rawson in 2015 came from the 47 distant coastal vessels operating there (5 vessels more than in 2014 and 9 more than in 2013). Reported catches in Caleta Olivia (8,846 tons) come almost exclusively from 15 shrimp fishing vessels freezer fleet. The nearly 5,300 tonnes landed in Mar del Plata were captured by 7 freezer beam trawlers (60 per cent) and the remaining 40 per cent by 26 fresh fish vessels. It is noted that in this port the same number of ships operated between 2014 and 2015 on the shrimp species.

However, the shrimp fishery maintains the upward trend in volume. However, from the sector they warn that the economic performance does not maintain the same levels due to the challenges of the European markets, where the Patagonian crustacean is mainly inserted.

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