Tag Archives: Argentina
Scallop wallop – Japanese imports are taking a bite out of New Bedford’s lucrative seafood industry at a time when the region’s shellfish are in shorter supply.
Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, landed a deal to supply U.S. military bases in Japan with scallops and other Japanese seafood products. Japan is an ally, he said, and it is important to support one of their major industries in a challenging moment. “In America we have a saying about being a good neighbor,” Emanuel said, according to the military news service Stars and Stripes. “This is being a good neighbor.” The recent spike in Japanese scallop imports is a complex political tangle. But in the U.S. seafood trade, distributors aren’t buying Japanese scallops to be neighborly, as Emanuel put it. “It’s business,” said Drew Minkiewicz, a D.C. attorney who represents commercial fishing and shipping interests. “Japan’s government is making a targeted effort to push as many scallops as they can into the U.S. That competes directly with our scallops here.” more, >>click to read<< 12:36
Aloncar Launches Innovative Artisanal Vessel
The Aloncar shipyard in Argentina launched on 17th June the last trawler in a series of three similar vessels that have been under construction since last year. Virgen de Itatí 2 replaces a smaller coastal boat with the same name which has been operating from the Patagonian port of Rawson for more than 15 years. Although it has an overall length of just 10 metres, Virgen de Itatí 2 is designed to have the functionality of a larger, modern fishing vesel. The shipyard’s engineers took care to optimise its hydrodynamic qualities, developing a final layout that has proved to be effective and stable. The design incorporated an inverted bow arrangement. Virgen de Itatí 2 is also outfitted with the latest equipment. Photos, >click to read< 11:55
Argentinian Yard Launches its First Newbuild Fishing Vessel
Built entirely at the De Angelis yard Nuevo Don Julio is a fresher trawler designed to operate from Caleta Paula port, in Santa Cruz province. The regional standards relating to coastal fishing vessels stipulate a maximum registered length of 12 metres, so that was a crucial factor of this venture from the outset, explained production manager Juan Cruz Rodríguez. ‘The primary requirement presented by our client was that the boat should have the largest storage capacity possible while remaining within the maximum allowed length,’ he said. The 99m3 fish room is considerably larger than would be expected in a vessel of this size. Nuevo Don Julio’s designers had to strike balances between length and internal volume by creating a special configuration of elements to ensure its stability. Photos >click to read< 19:25
Grupo Arbumasa’s New Fresher Trawler
Huafeng 882 is the third of six trawlers ordered in 2021 by Dalian Huafeng Aquatic Products, part of Grupo Arbumasa. Earlier in 2022, Contessi launched the first two vessels, which have already been successfully fishing during the recent season. Like its sister vessels, Huafeng 882 is a 24-metre fresher trawler, designed to fish not only Argentine red shrimp but also the several other species outside the shrimp season. Huafeng 882 is a double-decked ship mostly made of steel, with an aluminium superstructure. A fresquero, it does not have freezing capacities, but it has an insulated fishroom, provided by Nautiplast, for landing catches fresh in ice, and a chiller supplied by PM Refrigeración. Video, photos, >click to read< 17:25
Sunk Trawler Brought Back to Life
Red Chamber Argentina (RCA) has just completed an important stage of its fleet renewal program and relaunched freezer trawler Promarsa I, which was entirely rebuilt after lying idle for more than ten years. That is one of seven vessels previously owned by Alpesca, once a major fishing company in Argentina that ended up going bankrupt. Since 2015, RCA has been investing in the assets of that company and presented a plan to the local authorities that included the complete renovation of such vessels, many of them partially sunk and almost beyond recovery. Photos, Video, >click to read< 13:05
Former Skippers New Fresher Trawler
Fresquero José Luciano will operate from Mar del Plata along the Patagonian coast, targeting not only Argentine red shrimp, but also hake and other species, landing fresh catches boxed in ice The newbuild replaces an older vessel owned by Luciano Ramaci, a former skipper from Mar de Plata. The steel-hulled, 27-metre José Luciano has an 8.40-meter beam. It is powered by a Caterpillar 3508 main engine and two auxiliary Cummins engines and is expected to have a maximum speed of 9.5 knots. Its design incorporates a bulbous bow. Photos, >click to read< 19:20
Aloncar Launches Largest Trawler in 40 Years
After two decades of inactivity, the Aloncar shipyard at Necochea in Argentina, has been resuming projects over the past five years, since engineer Hugo Obregozo became one of its owners. On 20th April, this new phase of activity resulted the launching of BP Skipper, a 28-metre fresher trawler entirely built by Aloncar. BP Skipper is entirely funded by its owner, the fishing company Ocean Fish. Its design was inspired on Norwegian and 
Icelandic vessels, with a double deck and an inverted bow, he explained. ‘Both of these features are not common in Argentina. The double deck allows the catch selection, washing and handling to be carried out under shelter. The inverted bow is especially important in rough sea conditions, as it reduces resistance and vessel movement, and makes it handle more efficiently,’ he said. photos, >click to read< 21:20
Shipyards Face Impacts of Inflation and War
With rising inflation and devaluation of the Argentine peso against the US dollar, Argentinian shipyards are beginning to feel the impact of their country’s disturbed economic situation, in addition to the far-reaching effects of the war in Ukraine. Rising food prices have a direct impact on labour costs, something that most employers in Argentina, including shipyards, have been feeling over the past years. But those companies are also having 
to deal with the increasing prices of raw materials, especially steel and aluminium. According to Domingo Contessi, owner of Astillero Contessi, one of the traditional shipyards specialising in fishing boats, steel prices have gone up significantly since last year. ‘It’s a very complex situation. We have faced difficult times like this in the past, but never with such abruptness,‘ he reflected. Photos, Video, >click to read< 14:41
Contessi Launches Fresher Trawler for Arbumasa
According to Domingo Contessi, F/V Huafeng 827 is much similar to the recently launched fresher F/V Antonia D, a multipurpose double-decked trawler with steel hull and aluminum superstructure. ‘But there are a few differences. Antonia D has electric winches, while Huafeng 827 has a hydraulic winch system,’ he said. The new trawler has two Berycar GPH-6L trawl winches, two net drums from the same supplier, plus a mooring winch. He added that the fishroom capacity and the internal layout are also different in the new vessel. Video’s, photos, >click to read< 15:28
Argentinian shipyard Contessi launches multi-purpose fishing vessel Camilo S.
The multi-purpose fishing vessel Camilo S will fish primarily for Argentinian red shrimp, but it can also operate on hake, anchovy, and other stocks. Built for owner Mateo Mariscal, F/V Camilo S is designed to work coastal waters. The deck is laid out for either demersal or pelagic trawling with Berycar hydraulics, including a trawl winch with two main drums and a bagging winch. The codends are emptied into hoppers on deck and the contents pass through the catch handling system on the foredeck designed for rapid grading and sorting, and with selected shrimp boxed in ice in the fully insulated fishroom below. Video, and photos, >click to read< 18:56
TecnoPesca Argentina’s New Freezer Trawler Prototype
TecnoPesca Argentina (TPA) has been developing of a new design for a freezer trawler to replace a 50-year-old boat operating in the Argentine red shrimp fishery in Patagonia. The new trawler, which is still waiting for its substitute license, has to keep the same fishing capacity of the previous vessel. ‘That’s our biggest challenge. There’s an equation that includes several parameters, including engine power and storage capacity, and we have to meet all of these requirements,’ TPA’s director Enrique Godoy said. photo’s, >click to read< 13:38
Tecnopesca Argentina Modernizes 30 Year Old Trawler
After seven years at the quayside in the Argentinian fishing port of Mar del Plata, the 42.70 metre Cabo Vírgenes, which used to fish for hake, was missing some of its equipment. Electrical systems had been stripped out and rust was eating away at its steelwork. Now, after ten months at the TecnoPesca Argentina (TPA) shipyard,, ‘It’s working as a fresher trawler, with no processing or freezing systems on board. Basically, it’ll be fishing for hake but is also able to fish for Argentine red shrimp,‘ photos,,, >click to read< 10:01
New Trawler Built Under Coronavirus Restrictions
‘That was undoubtedly our major challenge this time. We had signed the contract with the shipowner just a few days before quarantine measures were ordered by the Argentinian government,’ said Domingo Contessi, the shipyard’s president. ‘Construction began in April, when all of the 
restrictions were already in place, so this boat was completely produced under social distancing requirements’. Fortunately, both Contessi’s suppliers and staff responded positively to the company’s new needs and Siempre María Elena was completed within the time agreed with Aquellos Tres S.A., the shipyard’s client. >Video, photos, click to read< 13:23
The first woman captain of Argentina fishing vessel drives the fight for equality for women at sea
Nancy Jaramillo became in 2017 the first woman in the country with the title of “Fishing Captain”, and from that place she became one of the most authoritative voices to claim for gender equality at sea.,, Her history as a woman of the sea began in 1994 in Puerto Madryn, due to a mixture of “chance, poverty and need,” as she recalled, from the dining room of Erin Bruce, moored at the North Pier of Mar del Plata. >click to read< 18:46
Brexit Party MEP just insulted everyone from EU fishing vessels to Argentina
A Brexit Party MEP (Robert Rowland) has called for the Royal Navy to sink EU fishing vessels that enter a 200 mile exclusion zone around the United Kingdom. The policy would see EU boats as far away as France’s Bay of Biscay attacked by British warships. The 200 miles exclusion zone would also include a number of EU capitals and major cities such as Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, and Dublin.,,, “We are behind all our fisherman and the restoration of sovereignty over our waters. 200 miles of exclusion zone with any foreign fishing vessel given the same treatment as the Belgrano!” >click to read< 13:53
Dirty Business – Having taken a toll in Chile, farmed salmon industry arrives in Argentina
Argentina’s National Aquaculture Project, signed with Norway in March 2018, aims to spur the development of the salmon industry in Tierra del Fuego, an archipelago at the southern tip of South America. Environmentalists and scientists fear that errors committed on the Chilean side of Patagonia will be repeated, to the detriment of the environment on the Argentinian side. Among the environmental impacts of the Chilean salmon industry are escapee fish that become established as introduced species, pollution from farms’ waste food and feces, and the overuse of antibiotics. >click to read< 09:32
Spanish fishing boat “Dorneda” sinks in Argentine Waters, twenty-five crewmembers rescued, one missing
A Spanish fishing trawler sank in rough weather off Argentina’s coast and at least one crewmember died, Argentina’s Navy said Wednesday. Twenty-five crewmembers were rescued and one was missing. The Navy issued a statement saying it was alerted Tuesday night that the Dorneda was in trouble. Early in the morning, the Spanish fishing trawler Farruco found two life rafts and a lifeboat with crewmembers from Spain, Peru, Morocco and Indonesia aboard. The British-flagged Beagle I also participated in the rescue and was taking the survivors,,, >click to read<09:51
At least three killed as Argentine fishing boat sinks off Chubut
Argentine Coast Guard found Sunday the dead body of two of the nine crew members missing after Saturday’s sinking of a fishing vessel off the coast of Argentina’s southern province of Chubut, it was reported, while one more sailor whose body is yet to be retrieved is also feared dead and seven more are still missing. The fishing vessel Repunte sank about 80 kilometers north of the coast of Rawson, in the Patagonian province of Chubut, it was reported. On Saturday, the Coast Guard managed to rescue two survivors and detected the lifeless body of another. It all began Saturday morning, when the captain of the Argentine-flagged Repunte signaled the Maria Liliana, which sailed 16 nautical miles (about 32 kilometers) apart, that they were abandoning click here to read the story 18:06
Falklands squid catch dives from 350,000t to 2,000t, Argentina at 20-year low
Juan Redini, president of the chamber of jiggers of Argentina, presented some shocking figures on squid catches in his country and also the Falkland Islands, during the cephalopod conference on the Monday before Conxemar. Argentina’s catches of squid for 2016 are just over 50,000 metric tons (see blue bars below) in 2016, with catches in the Falklands at around 2,000t (see red bars). In 2015, catches from Argentina’s vessels were around 110,000t, with the Falklands catching over 350,000t. This “massive trend downwards” has caused prices to rocket. According to a slide (see below) from Redini, prices were around $1,000/t in 2015, but have nearly doubled in 2016, with the massive drop in volumes. Read the rest here 16:33
