A new report into Chilean fisheries has found that out of the 33 fisheries analysed, three are exhausted, 10 are overfished, and 15 are in full operation.
For five benthic resources there is not enough information for the status to be defined.
The report, Balance of Major Chilean Fisheries 2012, was recently released by the Undersecretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Subpesca).
Undersecretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Pablo Galilea, said that the new Fisheries Act provides measures that will restore the state of these resources – including the implementation of management plans involving recovery programs for overexploited or depleted fisheries.
The report has found that 15 Chilean fisheries are in full operation, meaning that the resource is managed sustainably.
10 fisheries are overfished (V-X anchovy, horse mackerel, hake, hoki and XI-XII VX Regions stripe kite, northern kingclip, Alphonsine, toothfish north and south), which means that if no steps are taken there is a risk of exhaustion or collapse.
Finally, three fisheries are depleted – Spanish sardine in Regions XV-II and II-IV, and bream.
This report was prepared with the information available from technical reports, annual global catch quotas and closures for major biological Chilean fisheries for 2012. These were developed based primarily on research conducted by the Fisheries Development Institute (FIFG), under advisory agreements signed annually by Subpesca, and direct assessment of fisheries conducted with funding from the Fisheries Research (FIP).
Mercator Media Ltd 2013