Falklands : Fisheries Committee Report for April 2006
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 10.04.2006 (Article Archived on 24.04.2006)
Find out what happened during this vital committee meeting.
FISHERIES COMMITTEE REPORT FOR APRIL 2006
By J. Brock (FINN)
A meeting of the Fisheries Committee took place in the Liberation Room of the Secretariat on Friday, 07 April 2006. Present were Cllrs Cockwell and Davies as well as Stuart Wallace and Cheryl Roberts, David Lang, the Attorney General, John Barton, the Director of Fisheries and Julian Morris from the Falkland Islands Development Corporation. Apologies for absence came from Cllr. Clausen, Mr. Chris Simpkins, the Chief Executive, Mr. Drew Irvine and Mr. Dick Sawle. Mrs. Irene Ewing took the minutes.
After confirmation of the minutes of the meeting held on Friday, 10 March 2006, matters arising from those minutes were discussed.
A letter from SOFA completely agreed with the comments that Stuart Wallace made at the last meeting. Major and smaller members of the fishing industry here should be on an even playing field. His view is that the industry view is important and representation on the Fisheries Committee should be made up of people who can contribute value to the decisions taken by the committee.
Mr Wallace also updated the committee about the F/V John Cheek. He said that though the situation is unchanged there should be movement on it later on Friday. At the moment, he wasn’t saying what that movement would be.
INDUSTRY REPRESENTATION:
John Barton has come up with a paper about industry representation on the Fisheries Committee, which was discussed in detail. Stuart Wallace reiterated many of the points he made at the last meeting about the person being put forward should have a keen interest in the fishery as well as being supported by all of the industry and other members of the committee.
John Barton said it was up to the companies to choose the representative and that H. E. the Governor Mr Pearce would approve that person. According to David Lang, the paper would go to EX-Co with SOFA and industry recommendations. Cllr. Cockwell added that we need to know where we are with this as soon as possible.
TOOTH-FISH AND WINTER LOLIGO:
A draft sustainability criterion was discussed for fisheries entering the ITQ system in July 2006. Seeing that Stuart Wallace and Cheryl Roberts had interests they sought advice from the Attorney General. David Lang’s advice was that industry representatives were on the committee to give advice and they couldn’t if they had to leave the room every time they had an interest. Both Stuart Wallace and Cheryl Roberts stayed for the discussion.
An early draft set out the style in which the paper is set out with items in square brackets still needing discussion. A draft paper for each fishery would be put forward year upon year and it would reflect the fishery to the end of the calendar year. Cheryl Roberts said that she was happy with the paper on Loligo. Stuart Wallace stressed that the industry needed to operate in a sustainable environment and that the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) had economic repercussions
Julian Morris admitted to not knowing all that much about the subject and wondered about whether 10,000 tonnes of spawning stock was a sustainable amount. John Barton explained that determining the 10,000 tonnes spawning stock was not as sophisticated as Mr. Morris thought. The figure is the lowest estimate in order to produce a sustainable catch in the following year. He added that if the season runs its full length there would be the same or more stock for next year.
LOLIGO AND ILLEX UPDATE:
Loligo catches have been 18,000 tonnes and most has been caught around Beauchene Island, according to John Barton. This is the third highest catch for March since March 1991. This was followed by a discussion about the difference in the size of the species from one season to the next. Second season Loligo was larger than first season Loligo. Stuart Wallace mentioned that at the moment Squid prices decreased over the last few months due to the smaller size of 1st season stock. The first Loligo season ends mid April.
Thus Far this season, 35,000 tonnes of Illex has been caught with one vessel catching 140 tonnes of Illex in one night. Some nights an average of 55 tonnes is achieved. High seas catches have also been good.
John Barton mentioned that there was no joint cruise this year. And Richard Cockwell mentioned that it was deplorable that there was no co-operation between the Falklands Fishery and the Argentine Fishery. It was a shame that politics had to determine the fate of straddling stocks.
The next meeting will be held on Friday, 05 May 2006.
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