The Federal Fisheries Council met last Friday and communicated the decisions adopted in the management of shrimp. The partial closure of subareas 13 and 15 was formally announced and biological data was added that prompted INIDEP to request the immediate development of a prospecting plan for the subareas located to the north. This was resolved in record time, with the note from the Directorate of Fisheries being known at the last minute yesterday indicating that, starting at zero hour today, Friday, sub-areas 11 and 12 will be surveyed. Vessels with observers were designated, all freezers, evidencing the administration's failure to cover the fresh fish fleet. In addition, based on the information provided by the INIDEP bycatch program, it was reported that since yesterday at zero hour subarea 15 has been closed due to high levels of hake in the catch.

 

 

 

In Subarea 13, fishing operations were constant throughout the period, with an average yield of 3,192 kilos per hour. While in Subarea 15, operations were carried out for only two days and with much lower yields, at a rate of 1,449 kilos per hour, "indicating that the concentrations of shrimp moved north", given that this was the subarea with the highest concentration at the time of prospecting.

 

Given the confirmation by INIDEP that the shrimp is moving north, the councilors decided to ask the researchers to "immediately" design a prospecting plan for the adjoining sub-areas in that direction.

 

Said prospecting plan had been, as expressed in Act 17, subject to the approval of the directors at the next meeting, to be held in fifteen days. But just a few hours later, the Directorate of Fisheries had already issued a note confirming the start of prospecting in subareas 11 and 12 starting today.

 

 

These two subareas, which will be surveyed simultaneously, are located between the 44º and 45º parallels. Subarea 11 between the meridians of 62º 30' and 63º 30' West; and subarea 12 between 61º30' and 62º30' West. It is expected that subarea 10 located between meridians 63º30' and 64º30' will also be prospected, when there is operational capacity for ships and observers.

 

The survey will last four effective days of fishing and will be carried out with eight vessels, four in each subarea. They clarify from the Directorate that for operational reasons the ships that already had observers were designated. All the designated vessels are freezers, which marks the null coverage of the fresh fish fleet again this season.

In Subarea 11, the vessels Arbumasa XVII will operate; Argentina II; Victoria P and Vieirasa Sixteen. In Subarea 12, the vessels Miriam, Myrdona F; Rasmus Effersoe and the illegal vessel José Américo. An example of the contradictions of the national fisheries administration.

 

 

According to the advisors, from the INIDEP they expressed that "the beginning of the season in waters of national jurisdiction within the AVPJM presents good yields and sizes of specimens". But that to the west of the meridian 63° 30' West longitude, the specimens were smaller with high percentages belonging to the L4 and smaller categories, for which the partial closure of subareas 13 and 15 was decided as of June 22.

 

In subarea 15, not only did shrimp yields drop, but also the presence of hake found in the catches was higher than allowed. The bycatch report provided by INIDEP revealed that, in the second week of June, the bycatch of hake was 28%, recommending the total closure of this subarea for a period of ten days.

In the rest of the authorized subareas, the bycatch remained within the 20% allowed and the accumulated value of hake from the beginning of the season on April 1 to June 19 was 2,829 tons, as reported in the Act.

Source: Revista Puerto