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.
The main goal of this FIP is to attain an MSC-certifiable status for the Argentine red shrimp onshore fishery by the end of 2023. The specific objectives for the period 2022-2023 are as follows:
1. Promote the periodic evaluation of the effectiveness in the fisheries management system, through the regular operation of the fishery's Follow-up Commission, and the creation of a Technical Committee for the fishery.
2. Follow up on the process of adopting a contingency plan for the fishery as stipulated in Resolution N°7/2018 of the Management Plan.
3. Resume the private On-Board Observer Programme, which had been halted because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
4. Build the capacity of the private observers on bird identification.
5. Promote management measures or changes in fishing practices according to the results of the risk analysis, if necessary.
6. Fulfil the requirements of the FisheryProgress' Human Rights and Social Responsibility Policy Programme.
FIP at a Glance
| 21% | 79% |
| 14% | 43% | 43% |
This pie chart represents completed environmental actions. Non-completed environmental actions may contain completed sub-tasks that are not illustrated here. For more information on environmental action progress visit the Actions Progress tab.
- Complete
- Incomplete