Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Sábalo Threatened by Overfishing

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

BUENOS AIRES, Nov 4 2006 (IPS) - The non-governmental Proteger Foundation revealed on Oct. 30 a nearly secret report by Argentina's fisheries agency which admits that the fish known as the sábalo (Prochilodus lineatus) is at risk of population collapse due to overexploitation. Proteger, which has denounced the overfishing of this species for years, agreed with the forecast, but criticized the agency for failing to publicize the official study.

The report “confirms what we have maintained all along, but this is a snapshot, and to understand the problem there have to be comparative studies,” Julieta Peteán, a member of the Foundation, told Tierramérica.

According to Proteger, some 70,000 tons of sábalo — the leading river-fish export — are caught annually, half what was caught 20 years ago with a smaller fishing capacity.