Giant squid. (Photo: Fisheries and Aquaculture Undersecretariat)

Bill limiting giant squid fishing worries industrial sector

The Fisheries Committee of the Chamber of Deputies will vote on Thursday a bill that, if passed, will leave the industrial fishing sector out of the giant squid catch. In addition, it will close the purchasing power to 500 artisanal boats that sell their catches to the processing plants in Coronel and Talcahuano.

According to the president of the Association of Fishing Industrialists (ASIPES), Macarena Cepeda, the fishermen of the V and IV regions ask for the giant squid (Dosidicus gigas) to be fished only with a hand line or a jig, thus it would leave out industrial fishing, which fishes with gill nets.

The bill that is advancing in Congress implies the transfer of 100 per cent of the quota of giant squid to the artisanal sector, with which the industry would lose its 20 per cent stake, and which in Bío Bío offers work to some 2,500 people who work in this resource processing plants, warns ASIPES.

The general executive of Pesquera Landes, Andrés Fosk Belan, has also released his concern.

"This seems incredible to us and an unfair political punishment," the executive told Diario Concepción, given the imminent vote on this legal initiative.

Fosk shares ASIPES request to postpone the vote until the artisanal sector, scientists and plant and ship workers are heard by the Fisheries Committee.

According to the entrepreneur, union leaders expressed their concern about the situation because they know that the plants can not operate only with the raw material supplied by the artisanal fleet.

Of the 60,600 tonnes of giant squid landed by the artisanal sector in the Bío Bío Region, as of September this year, the fishing industry purchased 51,000 tonnes, or 85 per cent of those landings, equivalent to a transfer of value greater than USD 20.5 million, informed Diario Concepción.

"In Landes, they work directly with some 120 artisanal giant squid suppliers visiting the different inlets and ports of Bío Bío, from whom we bought products this year for some USD 6 million," said Fork.

Pesquera Landes general manager called on the Regional Government, the mayor and local parliamentarians to protect the sector and collaborate to protect the activity and employment in towns such as Talcahuano and Coronel, where the plants and fleets are located.

The industry explains that in Coquimbo and Bío Bío there is a complementarity and joint work between the artisanal and industrial sector that allows the work on the resource throughout the year, and that is vital for the continuity in the operation of the processing plants.

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