|
Continental
fisheries
The continental fishing activity is
artisanal and mainly done in the hydrographic Bay of del Río
de la Plata and in the lagoon areas.
The greatest
activity takes place in the rivers Paraná, Uruguay,
Paraguay and de la Plata, being the main landing harbours:
Rosario, Victoria, Diamante, Santa Fe, Corrientes, and
Berisso.
The most important species exploited in the
fluvial zones are the allis shad, the surubí, the patí,
the sand smelt, the armado and the bogue, among others, while in
the lakes area the species caught is the sand smelt.
For
what concerns the sportive fisheries, the main species caught are
the surubí and the pompano dolphinfish in the river Paraná
and the rainbow trout in the south rivers and
lakes.
Aquaculture
The development level of
the aquaculture in Argentina is still low, having increased the
estimated production from 450 tons in 1990 to 1.200 tons in 1999.
The main activity is the rainbow trout culture, which represents
about 95 per cent of all cultures. Other cultures are also
relevant like the freshwater shrimp culture (about 22 tons in
1998), followed by other productions like Australian spiny
lobster (10 tons), tilapia nilótica (10 tons), pacú
and sea mussels. Between 1984 and 1991 the production was mainly
artisanal, especially in the south of the country, dedicated to
the rainbow trout. Later on, when the weir of Alicurá was
opened (over the river Limay) the production increased quickly,
having this type of culture a high quality and being made in
cages.
In the last years, the national authorities of the
aquaculture sector observed some important facts in the
aquaculture sector, among them, that the small and medium
enterprises dedicated to the trout culture seem to be
consolidated in the internal market and one of them in the
external market; the new culture products like freshwater shrimps
and lobsters, are now available in super markets and restaurants,
tilapia in the local "formoseno" market, pacú in
the regional market near the production area, the distribution in
the market of the first catch (2,5 t) of ostra cóncava
from artisanal cultures in the South Atlantic, small productions
of seamussels and the start of a new enterprise in 1999 producing
tilapia seeds from the import of specimens of a genetic line from
Israel.
Most of the products are destined to the internal
market, mainly in the areas close to the production zone, part of
them reaching the "bonaerense" market and other
important urban centers of the country.
Utilization of
the catches
The landings of the coastal fleet supply
mainly the internal market, either for fresh consumption or,
indirectly, giving raw material to the canning factories and the
salting-tubs. An important part of the catches is destined to the
processing factories to be exported.
The landings of the
traditional deep sea fleet are destined to supply raw material to
the processing factories in land, which fundamentally produce
different classes of fillets and fish without head and
eviscerated, fresh or refrigerated for the internal market or
frozen to export. Almost all these vessels are integrated in
different ways in the processing factories.
The fleet of
freezing processing vessels, processes the catches on board and
the resulting products are frozen according to the type of
vessel: fillets or eviscerated fishes without head, fishblock or
interfoliated, embedded fillets, wet squids, squid mantles, squid
tentacles and fins, scallop bits, surimi, red shrimps. Some
vessels of this fleet, the bigger ones, use the processing
residuals to make fishmeal.
Present situation of the
industry
The SENASA (Servicio Nacional de Sanidad y
Calidad Agroalimentaria) registered about 200 processing
factories of marine products in land qualified at a national
level. The main processing factories are located in the provinces
of Buenos Aires (Mar del Plata, Necochea and Bahía
Blanca), Río Negro (San Antonio Oeste), Chubut (Puerto
Madryn, Rawson and Comodoro Rivadavia), Santa Cruz (Puerto
Deseado and San Julián) and in Tierra del Fuego (Ushuaia).
The main processes used in these factories are: filleting,
eviscerating and without head, freezing, refrigerating, canning,
salting, drying, fishmeal and oil and re-processing of the
products frozen on board.
The fishmeal factories are
located in Mar del Plata, Puerto Madryn and Puerto Deseado and
they use, as raw material, the residuals of the other industry
branches.
The catches processed on board of the freezing and
factory vessels are related with the target species, include the
elaboration of frozen, eviscerated and without head products,
fillets, red shrimps and squids and fishmeal, obtaining
intermediate and final goods directly to export. One part of the
production is sometimes re-processed in land aiming to obtain
bigger aggregated value products.
The consolidation of
the use of the marine area resources corresponding to Patagonia
which, a little time ago, was not completely exploited, has
significantly changed the composition and characteristics of the
catches of the Argentinean fishing fleet.
In the 80's and 90's
a significant qualitative and quantitative change took place in
the fishing structure of the country. Under the quantitative
point of view with a great increase of the landings, and from a
qualitative point of view, with the incorporation of new catch
and processing technologies which allowed the exploitation of new
species and changes in their composition.
The total
landings duplicated between 1991 and 1997, reaching 1.34 million
tons in 1997. This was a consequence of the massive incorporation
of new different type units and under different operational
modalities of fishing gears and of enterprise organization,
favoured by some governmental measures which made the process
easier. Although the hake TAC is about 400 thousand tons, the
present catch of 1.3 millions largely exceeded this level what
could cause the collapse of this species. This situation forced
the authorities to restrict the catches of this species and to
limit the operation of the fleet; that is the reason why the
total landings decreased again since 1998, representing only 1
million tons in 1999.
In 1985 the catches of Southwest
Atlantic hake represented 64 per cent of the total with 260
thousand tons, while in 1996 the catches of this species
increased to almost 600 thousand tons, decreasing, on the other
hand, its relative participation to little more than 48 per cent.
For all the mentioned reasons, the landings of this species
decreased to 312,000 tons in 1999, with a participation of only
31.1 per cent of the total.
As a consequence of the
incorporation of specialized units and with very selective gears
for the squid fishing jiggers it was possible, in 1997, to
overcome the 400 thousand tons of nominal catches representing a
little more than 30 per cent of the total landings, while in 1985
only 21.5 thousand tons were caught, representing 5.30 per cent.
In 1999 343 thousand tons of squids were caught, that is 34 per
cent of the total marine catches landed.
The catches of
red shrimp during the last decade were maintained within the
predictable margins, with fluctuations (maximum 24,402 tons in
1992, minimum 6,172 tons in 1995 and almost 15,900 tons in 1999)
due to the favourable or unfavourable conditions for the
recruitment and to the bigger or smaller accomplishment of the
current prohibitions.
Since the incorporation of specialized
factory vessels in the production of surimi, species that, in
1985, were relatively abundant but not very exploited, like
Southern blue whiting and the Patagonian grenadier, reached
together 17 per cent of the total catches with 172 thousand tons
of nominal landings in 1999.
In 1985 the 44 freezer and
factory vessels landed 20.3 per cent of the nominal catches
(80,400 tons) while in 1994 the number of vessels reached 188
with 57.1 per cent of the total (535,500 tons). In 1999 these
vessels (187 operating) caught 693 thousand tons (69.2. per cent
of the total). On the other hand, the traditional deep sea fleet
maintained the number of vessels and their production in absolute
terms between 1985 and 1994, but their participation within the
total catches decreased strongly from 61.6 per cent in 1985 to 27
per cent in 1994 and to 19 per cent in 1999, with a decrease in
the landings to 195,000 tons during this last year. The landings
of the coastal fleet including that of the bay or cove went from
71,100 tons in 1985 to 147,400 tons in 1994 and to 126,000 in
1999, decreasing the participation, more or less stable around
the 17 per cent until 1994, to 12 per cent in 1999.
Another
important aspect was the change in the activity relative
participation in the different harbours where the fishing
production is landed. In 1985 the main harbour, Mar del Plata,
registered 63.6 per cent of the landings (252 thousand tons),
while in 1994 its participation was 34.4 per cent despite the
fact that the registered landings were 323 thousand tons, and in
1999 were landed 307 thousand tons (30,2 per cent of the total).
The nominal landings in Puerto Madryn and Puerto Deseado (the
main Patagonian harbours) increased from 15 per cent (41.400
tons) to 26.3 per cent (246.800 tons) during the period 1985-1994
and to 40 per cent (411.000 tons) in 1999. For what concerns the
most austral harbours Ushuaia and Punta Quilla, which in 1985 had
no meaning, reached in 1994 a participation of 52 per cent (488
thousand tons) and 15 per cent (153,000 tons) in 1999
respectively.
The dimension and composition of the fishing
products exports also reflected the changes observed in the
productive structure. The total exports between 1985 and 1994
increased from 150,400 to 536,200 tons and from US$ 152.2
millions to US$ 725.7 millions, reaching 671 thousand tons with a
value of U$S 1,014 millions in 1996, and soon after decreased to
323 thousand tons and to U$S 510 millions in 1999.
The
frozen products maintained a relevant participation in the total
exports (around 95 per cent) for a long time . Despite this fact,
the relative composition between the different products suffered
important modifications. Since there were greater catches of
squids by specialized vessels (jiggers), the squid participation
in the exports became important (24 per cent of the volume and
12.6 per cent of the exported value in 1999). Even so, the
incorporation of specialized vessels in the capture of scallops
and the processing on board of frozen pieces started having a
place in the Argentinean exports (2.2 per cent of the volume and
6.3 per cent of the value), just like the activity of factory
vessels dedicated to surimi processing (2.3 per cent of the
volume and 2.8 per cent of the value). The exports of frozen red
shrimps maintained its importance with 23.2 per cent of the
income of foreign currency with a participation of 5.3 per cent
of the total volume. Meanwhile, the refrigerated or frozen
fillets represented 28.0 per cent and 31.6 per cent of the
fishing exports total volume and value. For what concerns the
Southwest Atlantic hake, it has been loosing participation in the
exports due to the restrictions imposed to the catches; however,
it is still the main exported species, and its several products
represent 32.3 per cent and 26.8 per cent of the volume and value
respectively, of the fishing products exports in 1999. An item
that is becoming important is the air transportation of fresh and
refrigerated fish and seafood, which, with 12.400 tons and little
more than US$ 9 millions participate with 3.9 per cent and 1.8
per cent respectively in the fishing products total exports. It
has to be pointed out that all the percentages mentioned above,
correspond to export provisional numbers for 1999.
The
non-solved legal conflicts between the provinces with marine
littoral and the State are an important matter under a political,
legal, and institutional point of view and for what concerns the
productive structure. These conflicts are based on the management
of the fishing resources exploitation, the technical weakness of
the fishing administration and the lack of a legal boundary
according to the importance of fisheries, which allow an
efficient regulation of the effort and the structure of a long
term strategy that allows the sustained and rational development
of the sector. However, in the beginning of 1998 the Fishing
Federal Law N° 24922 was promulgated, creating the Fishing
Federal Council, integrated by a representative of each of the
five provinces with marine coast and five representatives of the
State and which, by decree is assigned to the Agriculture,
Livestock, Fishing and Food Secretary (SAGPyA) which is the
Authority responsible for the application of the Law. The Fishing
Federal Law could not be completely applied and
inter-jurisdictional conflicts although they have been
conciliated, up to a certain point, could not yet be solved
inside the Fishing Federal Council. The mentioned Law gives the
Council the possibility of deciding the national fishing policy,
to determine the annual Maximum Allowable Catch for each species,
to licence the fishing vessels and to regulate the ITQ system for
the species they decide to choose. The Law assigns the
responsibility of the control of the fishing resources
exploitation, the formulation of the national fishing policy and
its execution to the Autoridad de Aplicación (la SAGPyA),
after being established by the Council. The Secretary of
Agriculture, Livestock, Fishing and Food is the President of the
Council.
Economic function of the fishing industry
The
fishing activity has a low participation in the GDP. However, its
greater importance is the contribution to the fishing centres
development; these centers are located along the extensive coast
for what concerns the economic activity and the employment it
generates, in zones where the alternatives of work are not
abundant; it is also important the contribution to the commercial
and payment balance, through the exports that reached in 1997
their historical maximums in volume with 804 mil tons and in
value with US$ 1,035 millions, although these numbers have been
decreasing since then for the already mentioned reasons.
It
should be stressed out that traditionally the fishing activity
was mainly oriented to exports. In that sense, the fishing
products exports represented, in 1998, 14 per cent of those of
the primary agriculture and livestock sector, 6 per cent those of
the combined sectors of agriculture and livestock and the agro
industry and 3.4 per cent of the total exports of the
country.
Demand
The relative scarcity of the
internal market is one of the conditioning characteristics of the
structure of the Argentinean fishing activity, as a consequence
of the traditional preference of the population for the protein
consumption from another source in their diet, mainly cow meat
favoured by its abundance and its relative low price. Besides the
consumption habits, other factors contributed for that, like the
suspicion and susceptibility regarding the freshness of the
products, the lack of knowledge about the nutritive qualities and
the ways of preparation, the relatively high price and the
permanent difficulties of the internal commercialisation system,
related with the insufficiency of the freezing storage systems
and the rigidity of the system. This last one is being reverted
in the great urban centers for several new factors which were
being observed in the last years: super and hyper markets chains
with sectors destined to exhibit and sale fresh and frozen
fishing products of good quality and presentation; for health
reasons, once the doctors are recommending people to eat marine
fishes in order to reduce the cholesterol and for obesity
reasons; diffusing the freezer, once the majority of the mid
class houses presently have this apparatus as well as the
microwaves.
The limitations of the internal demand do not
allow the productive sector to have the necessary stability to
smooth the unbalanced structure of the international markets and
do it strongly depending on them. The external demand has been
the determinant dynamic factor of the fishing development,
starting with the great possibilities that the frozen products of
the main species exploited have been having in the international
market.
DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES
As a
consequence of the capture volumes reached by the fishing fleet,
Southwest Atlantic hake (Merluccius hubbsi) is now risking the
collapse. Other resources are in the same situation, that is,
they are fully exploited and is necessary that they follow the
same way. The present situation is that the fishing fleet
oriented to the Southwest Atlantic hake has a fishing capacity of
about 1,3 million tons and the determined maximum allowed catch
is only 110 thousand tons a year, being practically impossible
that the CMP may exceed the annual 400,000 tons once that, in a
certain period of time, the resource may recover to the
traditional values. It has to be said that it is necessary to
reduce at least two thirds of such catch capacity, while at short
term, from the remaining third, the fourth part of the fleet can
only catch Southwest Atlantic hake, for there are no species with
enough volume to be an alternative.
Then, the real
expansion possibilities of the catches are the small pelagics
(argentine anchovy in species with a short vital cycle (squid),
demersal fishes like the Patagonian grenadier, taking into
account, in this last case, that the species shows up in the same
distribution area than the Southwest Atlantic hake, and that is
the reason why no fishing licences should be given for this
species to vessels that do not have it for the Southwest Atlantic
hake. It is necessary to implement efficient organization plans
for each fishery, which will allow the recover of the affected
stocks and the possibility to maintain them completely exploited,
avoiding over fishing.
Even so, the sustained development
possibilities of the fishing sector can still be enlarged,
without meaning a bigger pressure on the resources, through a
better improvement of the present landings and of the absolute
and comparative advantages one can count on reaching excellent
values within the productive structure and, as a consequence, the
maximization of the economic and social benefits that the sector
can give.
Argentina offers interesting development
possibilities for the aquaculture, due to the favourable
conditions of its territory, and of the communications
infrastructure and the existing processing capacity for fishing
products. In that sense it is considered to be possible the
aquaculture development based on the correct choice of the
species to be cultivated, the adequate places and the economic
possibilities.
RESEARCH
The Instituto
Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo Pesquero (INIDEP)
(Fishing Research and Development National Institute) is the
organism responsible to give the necessary scientific support for
the rational exploitation of the resources and to avoid the over
fishing. It has two modern research vessels capable to operate in
all the Argentinean EEZ area and a third one for the area of Río
de la Plata. Besides that, there are, in Patagonia, centers that
co-operate for the same objective.
At the present, the
INIDEP is developing several research programs and projects among
which: demersal species (Southwest Atlantic hake, coastal species
and austral species), continental waters (Cuenca del Plata),
pelagic species and invertebrates (squids, red shrimp, centolla
and centollón, scallops and argentine anchovy), marine
environment (reproductive biology and environmental
characterization and red tides) and technology and information
(hydro-acoustics, fishing gears selectivity and evaluation,
seabream culture, observers on board and landings sampling).
The
Centro de Investigaciones de Tecnología Pesquera (CITEP)
(Fishing Technology Research Center) develops processing
technology projects and fishing products development.
AID
The
Proyecto de Desarrollo Pesquero (Fishing Development Project)
(PNUD - FAO - Argentinean Government) took place between 1966 and
1974 and carried out important tasks related with the Argentine
anchovy and the Southwest Atlantic hake research, utilization of
fishing gears and trade.
Later on, two research vessels
(one from Germany and other from Japan) operated in Argentinean
waters and two fishing research vessels were built with the
financial assistance of both governments which are those that
INIDEP operates at the present.
Financial assistance has been
received from DIB and the Banco Mundial and, due to the agreement
with the European Union, were also received non-refundable
assistance funds as a counterpart of the fishing agreements.
At
the present, the last steps are being carried out in order to
receive financial assistance from the World Bank, to implement
the ITQ system in Argentina and to implement also the controls
that such system involves.
Future
needs
The future requirements point to the formulation
of a sustained sector development strategy that contemplates the
need to regulate the exploitation of the main fishing resources,
to recover the overexploited ones, to reduce the fishing effort
and to obtain products with a bigger aggregated value at medium
term, able to bring, at short term, more employment or to
decrease the unemployment expected to occur due to the
implementation of the hake conservation and the recuperation
measures. On the other hand, the implementation of projects based
on the aquaculture (marine and fresh water) as an appropriated
mean to contribute to the production increase.
Taking into
account the present situation of the fishing development, of the
fishing knowledge and of the professional level reached in the
research, the technical assistance should cover particular
aspects and in the more and more specialized areas such as the
management of the available fishing resources and its strategical
priorities.
INTERNET
LINKS
|
