Attendees at the latest meeting of South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation, held in Shanghai. (Photo: Subpesca)

South Pacific RFMO highlights improved horse mackerel biomass

CHILE
Friday, October 20, 2017, 02:50 (GMT + 9)

The Undersecretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture (SUBPESCA) described the announcement of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) on the horse mackerel status as good news.

The scientific committee of this international organization, at its fifth meeting, held in Shanghai, China, determined a significant improvement in the condition of the horse mackerel stock, with biomass in 2017 on maximum sustainable yield (MSY). It therefore recommended increasing the catch quota by 2018, setting 576,000 tonnes as the maximum level.

Maria Angela Barbieri, head of SUBPESCA fisheries division, said that these positive results for the horse mackerel fishery "are the product of good recruitment during the period 2015-2016 and the low fishing mortality the resource has experienced in recent years".

Likewise, SUBPESCA authority indicated that in terms of the flying giant squid, the scientific committee requested "to continue working on the collection of the resource bio-fish information to advance towards a future regional stock assessment."

In addition, it commented that at this time, the fluing giant squid stock assessment in the SPRFMO is in a development process and that some countries such as China have presented studies with production models that have not yet been reviewed by this Committee.

Ignacio Payá, a professional at the Institute for Fisheries Development (IFOP), explained that in the case of deep-sea fisheries, the assessment and capture models of the orange roughy carried out by New Zealand and Australia, deep-sea cod exploration and one proposed exploratory fishing of crustaceans on seamounts by the Cook Islands were revised. In ecosystem aspects the impact of fishing on vulnerable environments and birds was analyzed.

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