The Galician fleet that fishes illegally in the Malvinas, in partnership with the British colony that usurps the Argentine Islands, is returning to its ports of origin after a failed campaign and with serious economic losses that the shipping companies have tried to minimize as much as possible with other catches, after verifying that there was not enough loligo squid.
The president of the Vigo shipowners, Javier Touza , who is directly affected by what happened - his company, Chymar, had two ships operating in the area - acknowledged that it has been a very hard blow.
"It was already known that we were not going to catch loligo in Malvinas waters, so some squid was caught outside the exclusive zone and the rest was mainly hake, both inside and out," said Touza .
Under these conditions, the entire fleet that fishes for squid tried to minimise the damage. “In order not to come empty-handed, we fished hake, but it has been an absolutely disastrous campaign from an economic point of view, although we admit that it is a necessary evil so as not to jeopardise the future,” added the business manager and qualified spokesman for the fishing sector, referring to the fact that squid fishing is subject to the biological evaluation criteria of its usurping partners.
In principle, the absolute shortage of product - it is the second time that there is less than 10,000 tons of biomass - is due - according to the Kelpers - to bioclimatic and circumstantial issues and not to overexploitation of the resource.
"We are continuing with scientific research in internal waters and we hope that things will return to normal and we have full confidence in the scientists and in this interrelation," said the president of the Vigo shipowners, who maintain joint ventures with their British partners in the Malvinas.
The next campaign in the South Atlantic will begin at the end of February 2025, with departure from Galician ports starting on January 6, after the Christmas holidays.
Before that, there would be an experimental one involving the “Golden Chicha” freezer, from Javier Touza ’s company. “This time, we will be the first to have first-hand information about the true situation of the fishing ground,” he said. In 2024, the fleet managed to catch just over 40,000 tonnes, compared to more than 100,000 in other years.
New ships
This critical situation for Spanish companies occurs when three fishing companies based in Vigo (capital of Galicia), Pescapuerta, Armadora Pereira and Copemar, are about to receive the new vessels to fish in Malvinas waters. They will be the largest, most modern and technologically advanced, built by two Galician shipyards, Armón Vigo and Nodosa, from Marín; scheduled to be launched at the beginning of the next campaign in 2025 in Malvinas waters.
Fountain:
