Coastal fisheries of Latin America and the Caribbean

28Coastal fisheries of Latin America and the CaribbeanFIGURE 4Boats and trailers (catres) in San Bernardo Beach, illustrative of the artisanal fleetfrom Partido de La Costa, Buenos Aires Province(Photo from Lagos, 2001)In the region of Bahía Blanca (Buenos Aires Province) operates a fishery witha relatively long tradition, going back to the 1940s. The main gear consists ofstationary nets that intercept tidal flows. The fleet is based in Ing. White, PuertoRosales and Monte Hermoso, all close to the city of Bahía Blanca. Hulls are madeof wood, plastic or fibreglass and are up to 16 m long. Approximately 40% haveinner engines; the rest are split between boats with outboard motors (up to 7.7 mlong) and rowboats (up to 6 m). Fishing trips do not last longer than 3 to 12 hours.The catch includes stiletto shrimp (camarón), Argentine shrimp (langostino),flounders (lenguados), Patagonian smoothhound, and Brazilian flathead (pezpalo). In addition, tope shark (cazón) is caught with tangle nets, and white croakerand stripped weakfish with handlines (Izzo et al., 1999). Annual landings arebelow 300 tonnes. Starting in 1999, fishers have been required to report catchesthrough a catch slip programme.In the Beagle Channel (Tierra del Fuego), small boats (10 m; Figure 5) are usedto catch hoki (merluza de cola) with stationary tide-intersecting nets. This fisheryis not regulated. Iron-made traps are used to catch small amounts of kinclip(abadejo), Patagonian cod, sharks and rays.2.5 Beam trawlingInitially, only one boat operated beam-trawled for stiletto shrimp in Rawson Harbor,Chubut Province. However, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, more than25 artisanal boats (less than 10 m long as defined in provincial legislation) haverequested fishing permits (Soutric and Caille, 2005). Beam trawls with a 4 m longbeam (locally known as raño) were traditionally used in Mar del Plata, where theyhave been virtually abandoned (beam trawlers were 9–18 m long) (Lasta et al., 2001).The main targets of the beam trawl fishery are stiletto and Argentine shrimp.