Image: Revista Puerto / Stockfile FIS

The government seeks to return to the location of jiggers

They say he's not a chartist, but he looks a lot like him. It was confirmed by the secretary of Malvinas Guillermo Carmona during his presentation at the Pampa Azul Congress. He says that the Argentine jiggers only want to “fish in the fish tank” and that the incorporation of foreign boats will prevent fishing at mile 201 and Malvinas.

Like all the politicians who passed through the Pampa Azul Congress, Guillermo Carmona gave a campaign speech highlighting the concepts in which Kirchnerism seeks to differentiate itself from the La Libertad Avanza candidate; but in this case there has been a great contradiction, when after criticizing the intentions to privatize the sea he proposed as a strategic necessity for Argentina to return to bareboat bidding for jigger vessels.

Source: Pampa Azul

“The self-denigrating positions that we Argentines have are expressed in a SWOT matrix,” he said in relation to the method of strengths and weaknesses that scientists usually use, and maintained that we Argentines only notice the weaknesses: “We need to identify the opportunities,” he stated. and added that “emphasis is placed on what the British do in the Malvinas without seeing what we Argentines do, which is a lot; or we watch the news about what is happening in Antarctica from foreign agencies and not from Télam, which allows us to see the wonderful effort we make. “You have to value yourself.”

After listing other actions such as the updating of fines, the creation of the inter-ministerial table (which does not meet) on illegal fishing or raising the status of the Malvinas Secretariat, he raised two situations that are presented in his opinion as “threats that pose “Our weaknesses are evident.”

Source: Stockfile FIS

One of them is fishing in the Malvinas, for which Carmona said that the Foreign Ministry is working with other areas of government with a view to establishing a “sanctioning regime in the ZZE in the Malvinas area, what they call a fishing protection zone when it was a economic instrument of the United Kingdom, rejected by Argentina.”

He then referred to fishing in Mile 201 but curiously attributed the responsibility for foreign vessels fishing in waters adjacent to national jigging companies: “The squid that is not caught within the Argentine EEZ ends up being caught in the Malvinas (Falklands) or in the adjacent area. It is an issue on which we have to work, guaranteeing sustainability without affecting the interests of the fisheries and guaranteeing our sovereignty.”

Source: Stockfile FIS

The Secretary made a comparison in the number of vessels, ignoring the exact number of national vessels as well as the certification process initiated; and assured that 110 vessels operate in the Malvinas, in Mile 201 an annual average of 300 vessels and that “in our EEZ we have between 69 and 62 jigger vessels,” indicating that this should not happen because squid that is not caught are allowed to in national waters, “pass to the Malvinas area or adjacent waters” and announced that they have already presented a project to reverse it in the Foreign Ministry and the Federal Fisheries Council.

He complained because only one boat went fishing outside Mile 200 despite the fact that the CFP gave the possibility of extending the validity period of the permits and said that this happened because “it is easier to fish in the fish tank.”

Source: Stockfile FIS

Carmona also attributed to the Council the initiative to open the season early, when everyone knows that it has been a demand from the jigger sector and that given the biological viability it was granted. In recent years the boats have not found illex so very few started the season earlier, but the Secretary attributed it again to a situation of comfort for the businessmen: "They only want to fish in the fish tank because it is more comfortable."

Using these arguments and ensuring that his proposal to intensify the presence of ships would create a problem for the British, Carmona made an unexpected announcement: “Foreign ships with a national flag must be incorporated, we see it as very possible based on the geopolitical benefits.”

Source: Stockfile FIS

He assured that this way “we could avoid the impact of fishing in Mile 201, we could improve port logistics, generate work and in addition to exporting we could consume it for Argentines” and added that a “scientific explanation” is needed as to why we do not do it.

“This does not have to be contrary to the interests of the fishermen,” he said and added: “This must be faced, it must be done and for this we need a government that has it on the agenda,” concluded the Secretary of the Malvinas.

After his presentation, we consulted him about the proposal presented and he indicated that what is being proposed “is the incorporation of ships within 200 miles with a criterion of ships with a national flag, as a strategy to expand the fleet.”

REVISTA PUERTO: Would it be a charter?

GUILLERMO CARMONA: No, we ruled it out, there is a mechanism that was authorized in 2006 that is bareboat rental.

RP: Isn't that charting?

GC: No, the charter is that you allow him to enter with personnel. What we say is: national flag ship, with Argentine personnel, that equips its resources in Argentine ports and has use of Argentine ports. That is, an expansion of the fleet either through Argentine investment or investments from other countries. We have made the proposal to the Federal Fisheries Council and we are also working with the Malvinas Council on the details.

RP: You suggested that these boats that would be located bareboat could be limited to fishing in a certain area on the edge of Mile 200. Since there are different stocks that are fished in different areas, how could you limit them?

GC: Those are fishing policy decisions, we are making a conceptual proposal.

Without a doubt, Carmona's statements in Congress will generate repercussions in the fishing sector and mainly in the jigging sector, which not only could be directly affected but is also in a certification process that may suffer the impact of this political decision.

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

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www.seafood.media

Country:	Argentina
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