Argentina Bans Commercial Fishing

Argentina Bans Commercial Fishing





October 2008  - The government of Argentina 
has banned commercial fishing along an underwater island submerged in the 
South Atlantic Ocean 136 miles off the long country's southern tip. 
Known as Burdwood Bank, the protected area encompasses 694 square miles 
rich in hard and soft coral species found nowhere else on Earth. 
Burdwood Bank serves as an important feeding ground for whales, sea lions, 
penguins, and albatross. It is also the breeding ground for two 
ecologically important fish species - southern blue whiting and Fuegian 
sardines. 
The community of top predators and migratory species in this area come 
from as far away as Antarctica, South Georgia Island, and New Zealand. 

The New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society has identified Burdwood 
Bank as a critical wildlife area under its Sea and Sky initiative, which 
seeks to promote precautionary management of the vast Patagonian Shelf 
Large Marine Ecosystem, one of the most productive regions in the southern 
hemisphere. 
On September 26, Argentine Fisheries Secretary Carlos Cheppi implemented a 
Federal Fisheries Council mandate, which permanently banned all fishing 
activities in the area including bottom trawling - an industrial fishing 
method that employs large, heavy nets dragged across the seabed. 
While the method captures the desired target fish, it also kills corals, 
sponges, and other animals. The method is known to be destructive of 
underwater ecosystems that serve as spawning grounds and ecological 
storehouses. 
"Armed with sound science, Consejo Federal Pesquero has taken a big step 
in ensuring sustainability in Argentina's fishing industry by protecting 
Burdwood Bank," said Dr. Claudio Campagna, of the Wildlife Conservation 
Society's Sea and Sky Program. 
The Wildlife Conservation Society's involvement in the region dates back 
to the 1970s and has included research, training, education, and policy 
development. 
The Sea and Sky initiative seeks to promote precautionary management at 
the ecosystem level for this vast oceanscape, within which Burdwood Bank 
is an essential link. 
"With the protection of this small, but critical area, the ocean is better 
able to replenish what we take from it, and equally important, Argentina's 
unique biodiversity is preserved," said Campagna. 
The ecosystem which contains and surrounds the Patagonian Shelf, harbors 
some of the southern hemisphere's richest marine resources, sustained by 
the nutrient-rich Falklands-Malvinas and Brazil currents. 

The Patagonian Large Marine Ecosystem has a history of exploitation to the 
point that populations of many species are declining and have been given 
IUCN Globally Threatened Status. 
Unsustainable, illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing by commercial 
fleets threatens many fish and squid species found on the continental 
shelf and slope off Argentine Patagonia, and adversely impacts wildlife 
higher in the food chain. 
Some of the species that depend on the food resources of the Patagonian 
Large Marine Ecosystem are the Southern elephant seal, the Southern right 
whale, the South American sea lion, South American and subantarctic fur 
seals, and Patagonian toothfish. 
Trawlers in the South Atlantic have nearly exhausted populations of 
Argentine hake, a popular food fish that once was common along the coast 
of Argentina. A commercial fishing ban on the Burdwood Bank may help to 
revive the species.





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