The decision of the national government to cut the hake quota in 2014 has prompted two fishing companies to merge their operations.
Blumar and Pesquera Bio Bio have agreed to reduce their fleet by 50 per cent and operate jointly one vessel each.
As part of the agreement, Blumar will stop its processing plant and will occupy that of Congelados Pacifico, belonging to Pesquera Bio Bio.
A few days ago, the Undersecretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Subpesca) announced the stipulated fishing quotas for different species and areas of Chile.
For hake, the authority assigned an overall quota of 19,000 tonnes for 2014, well below the quota for 2013, which was 40,000 tonnes.
According to Blumar CEO, Gerardo Balbontin, the decision to merge operations entails the dismissal of about 192 workers, newspaper La Tercera reported.
Of that total, 168 work for Blumar, and 24 at Pesquera Bio Bio.
The executive explained that the merger of the companies was determined to prevent the activity closure of both firms.
Blumar and Pesquera Bio Bio expressed regret for the consequences of the decision, but said they will comply with all legal and pension obligations to workers who are dismissed.
According to Blumar executives, the merger is the only way to give sustainability to fisheries, Bio Bio Chile reported.
Furthermore, Blumar had asked earlier this year the Superintendency of Securities and Insurance (SVS) the inclusion in the share register of 170 million shares in its Securities Registry, in order to carry out the capital increase of USD 30 million approved by shareholders on 9 December 2013.
In September, the company managed to reduce its losses to USD 9.60 million , that is to say, 11.2 per cent less than in the first nine months of 2012 (USD 10.82 million ), newspaper El Mercurio reported.
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