Asociación de Armadores Demersales Artesanales de Valdivia A.G. (Ademarval) filed an application for protection of the Patagonian toothfish or Chilean sea bass (Dissostichus eleginoides) before the Court of Appeals of Valparaíso. The organization pursues with this action to stop the depredation of this resource in Chilean waters and ensure its sustainability.
The fishermen believe that the Undersecretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Subpesca) disregarded the opinion of the Fisheries Development Institute (IFOP) for the overall 2013-catch quota of Chilean sea bass.
The Association stresses that the prescribed quota of 3,000 tonnes, is 600 per cent higher than the suggested by IFOP scientific experts, who recommended establishing an overall quota of 500 tonnes of Patagonian toothfish this year.
Bolivar Guzman Acuña, Ademarval director, says Subpesca is “fully aware” of overfishing of the species and the “clear risk of over exploitation, act which directly impacts on conservative measures” of Chilean Sea Bass, given their distribution from the northern boundary (Arica) to the southern boundary of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
The entity considers it important “to inform the public of these facts, which violate a resource that belongs to all Chileans, especially affecting the entire nation, as it produces the extinction of a natural resource and its artisanal fishermen”.
“With this model we are condemning Chilean sea bass fishing to disappearance and apparently nobody cares,” the Association lamented.
For his part, President of Ademarval, Raul Gonzalez Hurtado, sent a letter to the Undersecretary of Fisheries, Pablo Galilea, to inform abnormalities occurred in the recent 10 per cent bidding process of the quota and other matters related to Chilean sea bass.
“A collapse of the Chilean sea bass fishery would bring about innumerable deep economic and social problems for the artisanal and industrial sector, the first being the one that carries out the greater catching activity in this species marketing,” the union leader warns.
“This concern emerges among the fisheries sector, as there have been verified inadequate fisheries management and administration measures which were implemented in recent years by the Secretariat,” Gonzalez Hurtado added.
In the letter to Galilea, the President of Ademarval details that Subpesca divides Chilean sea bass fishing activity in two macro-areas of operation. The first is the fishing zone between the northern boundary of Chile and parallel 47° S, which authorizes the Chilean sea bass catch by artisanal vessels exclusively.
The second area comprises the sea area between parallel 47° S and the southern border of Chilean territorial waters, called Fishery Unit, which only authorizes the operation of industrial vessels that form part of the registers and patents the Secretariat manages.
To Ademarval, the fisheries management shows “inequalities in the implementation of management measures” when it establishes mechanisms that do not apply equally in both operating sectors: the artisanal and the industrial one.
In this regard, he explained that the Government set a better fisheries management for the industrial sector to the detriment of the artisanal sector, which is evidenced by the formation of distinct operating areas and separated by parallel 47° S, and which makes no sense from the point of view of conservation.
“It is necessary to update the records of Chilean sea bass fishing permits. This is an old demand of the industry to sort records, eliminate those not engaged in this activity and admit shipowners, who for years are waiting to regularize their situation, Gonzalez Hurtado explains.
“Without prejudice to what is stated in this letter, we reserve the right to take appropriate legal action with respect of acts that could be illegal”, he concludes.
Earlier this year, Subpesca publicly auctioned 10 per cent of the global catch quota of Patagonian toothfish. It was the first time that an exclusive fraction was available for artisanal fishermen in this process, which was equivalent to 50 per cent of the total.
Edith Saa, head of the Subpesca Fisheries Development Division, described the process as successful.
“We had an excellent participant turnout and behaviour, as before starting the auction all doubts were cleared,” Saa said.
“For the artisanal 5 per cent 13 people were registered, and for the auction of the industrial sector, 10, of which at least five were artisanal, which complied with all the requirements requested,” the official pointed out.
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