– The union -which brings together captains of fishing vessels from the Eighth Region- made an open invitation to all national and regional authorities to learn about the industrial fishing activity carried out on deep-sea vessels.
Talcahuano, January 26, 2023. Senator Gastón Saavedra (PS) spent two complete days on the deep-sea fishing vessel Don Alfonso from Blumar company. They set sail from the port of San Vicente and traveled a distance of 60 miles from the coast, covering approximately 450 nautical miles during the fishing operation, in which the parliamentarian, who chairs the Labor Commission and represents the Biobío Region in the Senate, was able to learn about the conditions in which industrial fishing operates and the technology of the vessels, which use fish finders, sonar, GPS and last-generation net designs that are 100% recyclable.
“He was able to see firsthand what the reality of workers is and understand how we operate and the surveillance, quality and traceability standards of our work. We were very happy with this experience and we would like everyone in the political world and those who legislate on this issue to be able to visit us and learn about our activity, which allows us to feed Chile and the world nutritiously”, said the president of the Fishing Shipowners’ Union, Juan Carlos Gonzales.
The vessel that Saavedra boarded was the Don Alfonso, a deep-sea fishing vessel from Blumar company that is dedicated to jack mackerel fishing in the Eighth Region. “We wanted to make our ship available to the union, because we are also interested in authorities seeing that today’s industrial fishing has a lot of technology, excellent habitability standards and is selective and sustainable fishing. We would love it if many more came”, commented Blumar’s Fishing Operations Manager, José Ocares.
Technological and sustainable fishing vessels
Industrial fishing vessels are prepared to navigate the open sea and search for fish with precision, since they come equipped with last-generation fish finders and sonar. These instruments allow captains and crews to scan the sea and see where suitable fish schools are located to be caught. “We can search for where the target fishing is, which in our case is jack mackerel, a resource certified by MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) as sustainable fishing”, José Ocares pointed out.
The innovations and technologies introduced in fishing vessels have responded to an ecosystem perspective of industrial fishing. This has allowed fisheries like jack mackerel to recover over the last 10 years, moving from the “overexploited” category to “fully exploited”. “Today quotas are defined with a scientific criterion that evaluates the real state of fisheries. Jack mackerel is the best example, since it is a fish that has had considerable improvement, allowing Chile’s quota to have grown more than 15% in recent years”, Ocares stated.
