Whitemouth croaker landing. (Photo: MAA)
ARGENTINA
Wednesday, August 06, 2014, 22:10 (GMT + 9)
The Joint Technical Commission for the Maritime Front (CTMFM) set a transitional ban area for whitemouth croaker (Micropogonias furnieri) capture in shared waters of Rio de la Plata.
The measure is in force until 31 August 2014 inclusively or until the monitoring results determine the need to modify it or render it ineffective, indicates Resolution 3/14 published in the Official Gazette.
Under the new rule, the area where whitemouth croaker fishing is prohibited is limited by the following:
- To the north by latitude 35°10' South;
- To the south by latitude 35°30' South;
- To the East on the line determined by the points 35°10' South-56°40' West and 35°30' South-56°40' West;
- To the West on line of seven miles from the coast of Argentina.
The fishing ban aims to contribute to the conservation and rational exploitation of the species by establishing closed areas to protect juvenile whitemouth croaker concentrations.
Administration bodies also requested to perform a permanent monitoring so as to channel the management.
The authorities consider that the effectiveness of the adopted conservation measures so far is at risk as the total allowable catches for the past two years have been exceeded, Pescare informed.
Therefore, they seek to annually set a catch quota per country, perform joint evaluations before the end of each year and that all vessels operating in the area have a satellite positioning system from 2015.
According to the Fisheries and Aquaculture Undersecretariat of the Nation, from 1 January to 5 August, 2014 a total of 20,255.5 tonnes of whitemouth croaker was landed in Argentine ports , 15.9 per cent less than in the first seven months of 2013, when 24,058.6 tonnes were landed.