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Crewmen on board the New Polar, loading catches of loligo. (Photo: Mercopress)
First loligo squid season of the year brings generous profits
FALKLAND ISLANDS
Friday, April 20, 2012, 23:50 (GMT + 9)
The first loligo squid season of the year ended last weekend with fishers catching more than they did in the whole of 2011.
Director of Fisheries John Barton described the season as “bumper.” Fishers – most of which were on Falklands’ vessels -- caught 34,900 tonnes of squid compared to 34,600 tonnes in all of 2011.
The loligo fleet consists of 14 Falklands-flagged vessels as well as one British and another one from Spain.
“It has been an absolutely brilliant season; one of our vessels transhipped three times and another twice,” said Beauchene Fishing Company Ltd owner Cheryl Roberts, Penguin News reports.
This is not the first time Beauchene has containerized its transhipment; the company used the same method during the first loligo season of 2010.
“Now as containerisation becomes more widely used worldwide it is apparent to users that this method can be beneficial in that the product can be delivered to the end user in small packages of one container lot,” Roberts added, Mercopress reports.
She stressed that containerisation is beneficial not only to the fishing industry but also to the entire Falklands’ population, offering choice and availability to the worldwide market for imports and exports.
Other companies which profited from the generous season are Argos Ltd, Fortuna Ltd, RBC Ltd, Southern Cross Ltd, Seaview Ltd and Seafish Ltd.
Regarding the illex squid, Barton said: “The illex season is still going along but with fairly modest catch levels".
The total illex squid catch is up to 64,000 tonnes, but as currently there are around 90 jiggers operating compared to the 16 in the loligo illex fishery, catch per vessel is relatively low.
Barton believes there is no immediate danger to the loligo fishery. “We will keep an eye on it,” he said. “There have been a lot of years when we haven’t caught anywhere near that.”
By Natalia Real
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com
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