Vessel 'Portobelo ll'. (Photo: proyectopragmalia.blogspot.co.uk/CC BY-NC 2.5 AR)
ARGENTINA
Tuesday, August 26, 2014, 03:40 (GMT + 9)
The Undersecretariat of Fisheries of the Ministry of Production of Santa Cruz authorized the firms Continental Armadores de Pesca SA (CORNAPESA) and Agropez to withdraw the traps left by Yaganes SA in waters located south of latitude 47° South.
According to Resolution No. 283, published last Thursday in the Official Gazette of the Province of Santa Cruz, Conarpesa and Agropez are authorized to operate with the fishing vessel Tomas I in waters under the jurisdiction of the province of Santa Cruz from 11 August until 25 September, "with the sole purpose of lifting the traps/pots of crab set by the company Yaganes SA."
In the preamble to the resolution, the authorities of Santa Cruz argued that the province can not take care of the removal of these gears due to the high cost implied.
Yaganes was given three fishing permits in February, but the company ceased operations and abandoned more than 6,000 set crab traps.
The Government of Santa Cruz warned of the need for such traps to be withdrawn, "so as to put limits on the effects that their presence would involve to the environment."
In April, the Undersecretariat of Fisheries began three administrative inquiries to Yaganes, responsible for the fishing vessels Portbello I, Portbello II and Sofia B, used to catch crab.
"The intention was that the mentioned ships, which have been in the port of San Julian for nearly 70 days, placed about 3,000 traps in the area of operations (actually they were over 6,000), which still continue to capture specimens, thus constituting a detriment to the fishery target species and causing unprecedented environmental damage."
Therefore, the authority required the firm to immediately withdraw the traps within 72 hours of notification, but Yaganes did not withdraw the traps and left the province without paying the captains of the ships, the sailors and the plant personnel, the local newspaper Tiempo Sur informed.
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