Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Danger for Hake Fish

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

BUENOS AIRES, Jun 2 2008 (IPS) - The Wildlife Foundation of Argentina warns that the common hake fish (Merluccius hubssi), the country's main fishing resource, is on the verge of collapse due to over-fishing. “We need to do something now,” Guillermo Cañete, coordinator of the Foundation's marine program, told Tierramérica.

According to the National Institute of Fishing Research and Development, in the past 20years the adult hake population fell by 70 percent. The authorities adopted measures to preserve the fish population but they were insufficient, said Cañete.

“Catches are under-declared and there is discard,” he added, recommending “planning with a long-term vision.”

The National Auditor General's office denounced that the lack of oversight of the fishing sector led to an “alarming depredation” of this fish, known in Spanish as “merluza”.