Argentina onshore red shrimp - bottom trawl

The Argentina onshore red shrimp - bottom trawl FIP is being implemented by Achernar, Cabo Vírgenes, Conarpesa, Food Partners Patagonia, Iberpesca, La Escalerona, Consermar and Pesquera Veraz as FIP Partners, and Direct Source Seafood and Krustagroup – Patagonia Shrimp as FIP Supporters, with the technical support from CeDePesca. The FIP aims to attain a certifiable status for the fishery against the MSC standard.

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.

The fleet operates in the fishery addressed by this FIP, use bottom-trawling nets along the coastal waters of the province of Chubut, mainly in the Restricted Fishing Effort Zone between Punta León and Cabo Dos Bahías. The Rawson Port as its landing point, and it conducts daily fishing trips from November to April (some years October-March).  This coastal fleet conducts daily fishing trips from November to April (some years October-March), and as opposed to the larger fleet, its catches are almost monospecific.

During 2021 the onshore red shrimp fishery recorded catches of around 60,000 tonnes; total shrimp catches, both onshore and offshore, for that year were just over 200,000 tonnes (Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, 2021). 

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.