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Photo: courtesy Revista puerto
Countdown to the end of the shrimp season
ARGENTINA
Monday, September 20, 2021, 03:10 (GMT + 9)
A month before what usually happens, the season in national waters begins to beat its closure until next year. Yields have dropped drastically, there is a greater presence of hake in the catches and there is shrimp in a reproductive state.
The shrimp season in national argentine waters generally closes between mid and late October. Although INIDEP usually recommends that fishing be prohibited in the closed zone in the first days of October to preserve the spawning of the hubbsi hake in its protected area, the authorities usually extend the harvest for several weeks. However, this year, apparently, it will not be able to extend beyond September due to the low yields and the early start of the reproductive stage of the shrimp, added to a greater presence of hake in the sets.
Catches began to decline in recent weeks. There were boats that managed to find some concentrations both in the north and in the south of the closed area, with small and large specimens in the same sets, and even in the northern sector the presence of shrimp in reproduction has been reported.
The low yields, the presence of ovate females and the increase in hake bycatch in the catches are signs of an early closure of the season. Many boats have left the fishing zone, leaving a handful operating on the parallel of 43º and another less numerous on the parallel of 44º, while some fresqueros have already begun to direct their catches towards other species. Of the more than two hundred vessels that operate on the resource, only ninety are reporting signal and just over half are in the fishing zone.
The imminent closure of the season comes a month earlier than has historically occurred in the fishery and the significant increase in fishing effort could be the explanation. This year, according to the reports of the INIDEP Shrimp Program, "the level of effort applied was higher than that observed during the last four fishing seasons."
In August, when the boats found large concentrations of shrimp in the northern sector, at the height of the parallel of 41º, the INIDEP researchers, far from considering it good news, showed some concern, since this could be showing an acceleration of the times in the migration route of the resource.
The researchers, at that time, pointed out that the early arrival of shrimp to the northern sector could be due to the fact that the fleet pursued it with great intensity and the consequences, according to the hypothesis they handle, could be detrimental to the health of the resource.
"It is likely that, if it has reached the north because they chased it, the shrimp will not go down to eat, it will eat half water and the energy it has to put in for reproduction it will put it to swim," they pointed out, while clarifying that the quality of food in the water column is not the same as that of the bottom and that this would affect the reproductive potential of the resource, being able to generate changes in the times and spawning areas. "We can then find a good-sized shrimp that cannot afford to reproduce, it is one of the theories we have," they indicated.
The shrimp appears to be reacting to increased fishing effort; and the consequence of having allowed the fleet to operate without control could not only have consequences in the current season with the early closure, but could also have effects on the future of the resource, affecting the quality of reproduction. As the researchers point out, it is likely that the effect will not only be seen in the next season, but in subsequent ones.
Author: Karina Fernandez / Revista Puerto (article available only in spanish)
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