What was a prediction at the weekend has finally become a reality: the 16 large Galician trawlers that operate in Malvinas waters have been forced to interrupt squid fishing in the Southwestern Atlantic archipelago. The very low catches recorded in this second campaign of the year and the alerts launched by the scientists of the British colony that usurps them; Given the low abundance located in the fishing ground, they led the Kelper Government to make the decision to cancel fishing.
While, in the second season of 2022, they collected just over 45,000 tons of squid, in the second season of 2023 they have only reached 15,000.
Thus, the current annual fishing of loligo squid in the Malvinas by the Galician fleet - a partner of the British in the plundering of natural resources in Argentine waters of the South Atlantic -; It culminates with a total just over 68,000 tons , a figure that alarms companies and dismantles both their catch projections and the investments planned for the incorporation of new vessels being built in Spanish shipyards.
As Agenda Malvinas reported, 2022 closed with a great celebration by the Galician fleet, recording squid catches in the order of 101,166 tons . So these 68,000 in 2023 mean 43,166 tons less. 33 percent lower than in the previous period .
An unprecedented situation in more than 30 years of associated looting between the British and the Spanish, which raises alarm bells about the magnitude of the fish predation that has them both in the leading role.
The specific event materialized when the Fisheries Department of the illegal government of the Malvinas ( the Malvina Islands Fisheries Department ) informed the shipowners this Wednesday morning that the fishing campaign was ending.
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As indicated yesterday by the Galician newspaper Faro de Vigo ; “Now, shipowners will have to decide what they will do with their ships. Some, without a doubt, will have no choice but to return to Vigo or Marín. Others, however, will choose to take the opportunity to catch hake both inside and outside Malvinas waters. “The decision is up to each company,” say the sources consulted, who reveal that another unit, chosen by lottery, will be in charge of helping the island's scientists analyze the squid situation.
For two weeks, the Fisheries Department will have one of the trawlers to check the status of the squid , data that will be key to estimating abundance and seeing what options there are for next year, when the vessels return to the fishing grounds for the first campaign. 2024, says the media outlet.
“There have been brutal meteorological phenomena, with winds and storms, but it is the scientists who are studying how it has affected,” summarize the same sources, who assure that the shipowners “will continue working with scientists to have as much information as possible.” ” ; adds Vigo Lighthouse as justification.
And he concludes: “ The news of the early closure of the campaign comes at a time when the shipowners were experiencing a golden age in the fishing ground. According to the data managed by the Malvinas Government, in the previous decade the Galician fleet had managed to capture almost 650,000 tons of squid in total, a resource that reached Europe through the port of Vigo and that nourished the Galician processing industry and meat processing plants. ”.
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