Overview
The Argentina red shrimp (Pleoticus muelleri) fishery is the main crustacean fishery in Argentina and one of the most important marine resources in the Southwest Atlantic. In accordance with the Fisheries Law, Argentinean provinces have jurisdiction over the exploitation of living resources populating their interior waters and the Argentine sea adjacent to their coasts up to 12 nautical miles (measured from baseline), which allows for the characterization of provincial fisheries.
A fleet of coastal vessels of length less than 21m operates the fishery addressed by this FIP, using bottom-trawling nets along the coastal waters of the province of Chubut, with the Port of Rawson as its landing point. This coastal fleet conducts daily fishing trips from October to March, and as opposed to the larger fleet, its catches are almost monospecific.
The Argentina red shrimp fishery as a whole (onshore and offshore) produced landings of around 80 thousand metric tons in the period from 2009 to 2013, surpassing the historical record in 2013 with landings above 100 thousand metric tons. In 2016, the fishery produced landings of around 180 thousand metric tons. The participation of the coastal fleet based at the Port of Rawson has been around 20% of landings during the last five years.
The Argentine red shrimp onshore fishery's current obstacles to becoming more sustainable are mainly related to MSC Principles 2 and 3. This FIP will work to address Principle 2 by characterizing the interaction between the coastal fleet and bycatch species in Chubut’s provincial waters and to support efforts aimed at better understanding the interaction between the fishery and the sea bottom, along with its potential impacts on the ecosystem. With regard to Principle 3, further coordination among the different jurisdictions that define the management of this fishery resource will be achieved, and a formal and regular mechanism for the assessment of the efficacy of the fishery's management system will be available to stakeholders.
For more information regarding this FIP's progress, please visit CeDePesca's Argentine red shrimp on-shore FIP Public Report (updated quaterly).
The Argentina red shrimp (Pleoticus muelleri) fishery is the main crustacean fishery in Argentina and one of the most important marine resources in the Southwest Atlantic.
- To design and implement an Onboard Observers Program for the coastal fleet to gather data on bycatch until May 2019.
- To conduct regular Ecological Risk Assessments for the Effects of Fishing to serve as input to the management system and to an MSC full assessment, until May 2019.
- To develop a minimum coordination protocol for fishery research and management among the different jurisdictions involved in the fishery’s administration by July 2018.
- To raise awareness among and involve crew members in research activities related to the FIP until May 2019.
- To initiate regular assessments for the efficacy of the fishery’s management system by May 2019.
- To achieve an MSC certifiable status and enter into an MSC full-assessment process by May 2019.
FIP at a Glance
| 21% | 79% |
| 14% | 43% | 43% |
- Complete
- Incomplete