Scientists in the Government Fisheries Department, along with the complete support of the industry, have recommended a reduction in the Toothfish TAC from 1500mt to 1200mt for conservation reasons. Councillor Andrea Clausen told that the step of reducing allowable catch resulted in an increase in the fee revenue ratio from around 15 percent.
She also informed that the Director of Fisheries recommended to Executive Council to defer a review of the fee until the third quarter of 2008, when revised price information could be taken into account. Both the Fisheries Advisory Committee and Executive Council were of the view that this recommendation reflected a change in policy for the setting of fees and only one fishery would be treated in this manner was untenable.
Argentina’s Fisheries Secretariat, Councillor Clausen said that the Falkland Islands Government has been proactively seeking to protect and manage these stocks so they can be fished in a sustainable manner since the mid 1980’s and more aggressively since the inception of the South Atlantic Fisheries Committee (SAFC) in 1991.
Clausen also mention that the Falkland Island Government remains committed to partaking in the sustainable management of the resources of the South West Atlantic and any effective regional management organisation that may be established to achieve this.
