Fishing fleet docked at port in Mar del Plata. (Photo: K.Falch)
ARGENTINA
Tuesday, June 23, 2015, 03:50 (GMT + 9)
The head of the Undersecretariat of Fisheries of the Nation, Miguel Bustamante, presented concerns about the current critical situation of the domestic fishing industry to the Executive.
According to Revista Puerto, the official sent a letter to the President of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, and to other authorities, addressing the crisis in this sector and calling for the suspension of the new resolution adopted by Customs, preventing a large number of fishing enterprises from exporting their products.
Bustamante also requests that a decree eliminating the deductions for six months must be signed.
The undersecretary stressed that in the port of Mar del Plata and other ports in Patagonia 120 boats have been stopped. In addition, he warned that this inaction is jeopardizing the continued employment of some 25,000 people (including those onboard and ground floor staff).
He also mentioned that the sector granted wage increases of around 30 per cent despite being their products destined to foreign markets by 95 per cent, and highlighted that the fishing companies must pay 10 per cent export duty in advance.
The letter is also aimed at national, provincial and municipal officials.
If the two measures requested do not materialize, Bustamante foresees that companies will not be able to pay wages or bonuses during June.
"If urgent measures are not taken, the situation can be out of control with unpredictable consequences and the activity history has already shown that, if this is the the case, recovery can take years," ensured the national official.
On the other hand, the mayor of Puerto Madryn, Ricardo Sastre admitted that alternatives are sought to overcome the crisis of the local and the provincial sectors in Chubut.
"We will summon the unions on the one hand, and on the other hand the business sector. Following these meetings, we will ask for an interview with the Minister of Territorial Development and Productive Sectors, Gabriela Dufour, and Fisheries Secretary of the province of Chubut, Hector Rojas," he explained.
"We are evaluating some issues that have to do with what we will ask to the National Government, but obviously we will convene unions and entrepreneurs, in separate meetings, to see which top concerns they manage from both visions of the sector, which is experiencing one of the worst moments in history across the country," Sastre said.
"The request of the reduction of export duties for fisheries must be mandatorily requested to the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Nation that leads [Axel] Kicillof," he concluded.