Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Restrictions on Sábalo Fishing

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BUENOS AIRES, Jul 20 2009 (IPS) - Given the national government's delay in setting a quota for exports of the sábalo fish (Prochilodus lineatus), an overexploited river species, the eastern province of Santa Fe established the maximum for catches until year end. The resolution seeks “sustainable management of fishing resources” in the Paraná River.

“Now that we're past midyear, the measure could wait no longer,” Julieta Peteán, head of the wetlands and fishing program of the non-governmental Proteger Foundation, told Tierramérica.

But “it is not known on what they based the information on the state of the fisheries” that they set a maximum of 4,000 tons, she said.

In 2007, the Argentine government authorized exports of a maximum of 7,000 tons, and in 2008, it was 5,800 tons.