llegal fishing: Illex squid, Falkland Islands – A view from the other side
By Gustavo Seira
The government of the Falklands, negotiates with Korean and Taiwanese fishing companies, licenses to fish Illex Squid in waters adjacent to the Islands. More than 40 jiggers are expected.
Wednesday, 02/02/2022
If something was missing from this irregular squid season, it is the arrival in southern waters of jiggers of other nationalities, although it will not be in waters under Argentine control and which are “dominated” by the government in the Falkland Islands.
In anticipation of the Illex squid harvest, the Falkland Islands Fishing Company and Dragon Fishing and Trading have met with Korean-flagged shipowners, with captains and with the crew members themselves to verify the status of the vessels that will go for the aforementioned resource. .
In addition to the inspections that we mentioned in South Korea, some twenty vessels that will participate in this harvest were also verified in the capital of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay, Montevideo, where consultants from the United Kingdom specialized in the fishing industry participated.
One of those responsible for the inspections, Nigel Blazeby, spoke publicly saying that “I am immensely impressed by the preparation of the vessels for the Illex squid season, by the revision of the main and auxiliary engines, and how the equipment is being revised. rescue”.
Blazeby is a fishing captain who was a driver for one of the UK’s biggest industry companies as Managing Director and former Chief Surveyor of Fishing Vessels for the UK Maritime Administration.
While the Korean vessels will fish in international waters before reaching the Falkland Islands, they will do some kind of pre-harvest training on Illex squid, all financed by the Falkland Islands Training Service.
Surely the controls will be deepened from Argentina through the Joint Maritime Command, which has been carrying out its tasks these days on mile 201 where, as we have already stated through PESCARE, the number of foreign-flagged vessels that fish there is immense ( 431 units were counted).
On the side of what is happening in these hours, our colleagues from Mar&Pesca have reported that a few hours from Puerto Deseado -8 or 9 hours- very good catches of squid have been recorded, fluctuating between 40 and 50 tons. daily in the sector of the 47th parallel, benefiting the port of Santa Cruz in the unloading of squid to increase the workforce.
The movement of transport and unloading of the different jiggers has been intense with unloadings that have had to be carried out even in the early hours of the morning, marking this the intense work that is seen through some vessels, especially in Puerto Deseado.
According to what was stated by a source from our colleagues at Mar&Pesca, there is some concern according to their statements since they stated that “we hope people know how to take advantage of the moment and the ships are unloaded in a timely manner without any conflict to be able to leave back to fishing, which is what shipowners value when putting a boat into port”
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