Fishing boats in the port of Piriapolis (Uruguay).© Duffour / Andia.fr (Getty Images)
Uruguay has more sea surface than land area, but the richness of its waters is not a priority on the national agenda. The country with 3.4 million inhabitants prefers to look at the countryside, where eleven million cows graze and soybeans grow on one million hectares. Meat and grain are the titans of the local economy, against which the sea, and especially the fishing industry, has lost research, development and productivity. This is reflected in a recent report by the CERES centre, which explains the decline in industrial fisheries in Uruguay, whose production has fallen by 49% over the past decade.
“The land has turned its back on the sea,” says Ricardo Fierro, a 61-year-old veteran sailor. Now retired, Fierro has sailed the high seas for more than 30 years and seen the rise and fall of the fishing industry. In the port of Montevideo, he walks alongside an aging fleet of ships that hasn’t set sail in weeks. “They’re very old and don’t have the maintenance they need to work,” he says. The age of the boats and their constant ailments at sea explain part of the decline of this industry, which employed 3,000 people in 2011 and now employs 1,600.
According to the report, the Uruguayan fishing fleet has grown from 124 boats two decades ago to 54 today. These boats have an average age of more than 35 years, with a recommendation that they be renewed every 20 years. “Aging is a problem that only gets worse over time,” he notes. According to the study, larger investments in the private vehicle fleet are necessary, but also to check the “ineffective regulations” that inhibit productivity. In addition, it points to union disputes and strikes – 45 days in 2022 – as another factor that has hampered the normal development of the fisheries.
Regarding the regulations, the president of the Chamber of Fisheries, Juan Riva-Zucchelli, is calling for a change to the current system of fishing authorizations, which only allows fishing of one species per vessel. “It’s a restrictive structure that could be improved if the ships had a multi-purpose license,” he says. Under the current regime, there are larger boats licensed to fish for hake, smaller boats licensed to fish for quack and whiting, while other boats – now almost non-existent – catch other species such as tuna or squid.
Within this framework, industrial fishing has focused on catching tons of hake, sea bass and whiting, 90% of which are exported. 2005 was an outstanding year: more than 110,000 tons of fish were exceeded. However, that number has dropped to an annual average of 40,000. According to the report, there was a 49% drop in production between 2011 and 2021 due to labor difficulties and regulatory issues. “The unions were combative and didn’t understand that we were in the same boat,” says Riva-Zucchelli. For the businessman, these circumstances have resulted in the fleet being on the road an average of 190 days instead of 300 or more days a year, with the consequent loss of productivity.
File image of two fishermen on Lake Rocha in Rocha Department, Uruguay. Christopher Pillitz (Corbis via Getty Images)
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Living and working on the high seas, comments seaman Fierro, has a quirk unknown to most Uruguayans. “The boats are made to be at sea, to fish and not to be stranded at the docks,” he says. He stresses that the seafarers’ work is seasonal, meaning they are only paid when they are fishing. He also explains that the work involves great physical exhaustion, unlimited days and far from optimal conditions on board. Together with the age of the boats, these peculiarities of working at sea create differences. “It’s a conflict-ridden sector because the situations are complex,” he adds.
Another important aspect addressed in the report relates to the under-exploration of maritime resources and their potential exploitation. Vila-Zucchelli recalled that Uruguay has one research vessel, the Aldebarán, but it has been damaged for more than two years and there are no signs that this will change anytime soon. In practice, the businessman continues, the Uruguayan observers leave on Argentine boats, which provide the information necessary to establish the allowable catches in the joint fishing zone shared by Argentina and Uruguay.
The reality of the Uruguayan fishing industry must be addressed by integrating different perspectives: environmental, social and economic, summarizes Luis Orlando, a biologist specializing in fisheries resources. “We must move towards a participatory model so that the fisheries sector, research and administration work together,” he affirms. Orlando emphasizes that the fish population is changing and adapting to the conditions of an area that receives hot currents from Brazil, another cold one from Argentina, and the Río de la Plata’s outflow. This is not always in line with industry expectations. “It’s a natural system, they’re living resources and you have to understand them very well to be able to manage them,” he notes.
growth potential
CERES asserts that if the ecosystem limits are respected, the Uruguayan fishing industry could increase its export catches by 123%. This would have an impact of $200 million per year and create more than 2,000 jobs. “The (Uruguayan) fisheries have a diversified use in international markets,” he says. However, he warns of the risk of losing competitiveness compared to other countries with more developed industries. In this sense, it recommends renewing the fleet, expanding and diversifying production into other types, and stimulating domestic consumption.
This is probably the toughest challenge facing the Uruguayan fishing industry: getting Uruguayans to put fish on their table, the big stone guest in the local diet. The residents of the Eastern Republic eat an average of 94 kilograms of meat (mainly beef) and only 7 kilograms of fish on an annual average. The task is daunting.
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