The representative of the province of Tierra del Fuego in the Federal Fisheries Council, Carlos Miguel Cantú, confirmed in a radio program that both the Fuegian government and the national executive have intervened to obtain a quota of toothfish for the vessel that illegally caught 175 tons of that resource in March.
Cantú was consulted by Gonzalo Zamora on the radio program “el delivery TDF” in Ushuaia , about the article published by REVISTA PUERTO “The owner of Tai An has support from the Fuegian and national governments.” In that article, Revista Puerto reported that, as emerged from the minutes of the Federal Council, Cantú had presented a note from Prodesur, owner of the Tai An vessel that caught 175 illegal tons of toothfish in March, requesting that the bycatch limit be modified. of 1.5%. And in turn, the representative of the National Executive, representative of the Ministry of the Environment, had requested INIDEP to ratify that the limit established by them is correct.
Revista Puerto says that, throughout the radio interview, Cantú “tried to deny what was published but ended up ratifying it, even when he falsified reality to try to justify his actions and those of Governor Gustavo Melella.
“It is true that the administrator (Liu Zijihian) went to the Federal Council to request, not that they review the measure, but to request that in some way, he be authorized to fish between now and the end of the year an X amount of toothfish, which It is the component that makes its fishing economic equation close, that is what he was going to propose,” said Cantú.
“No councilor supported anything, neither the Environment Minister nor me. What we did was, after debating it in the Council, send the query to INIDEP to tell us what technical biological feasibility existed of granting Tai An, between now and the end of the year (which is three, four tides) of raising the 1.5%,” Cantú continued, then confirming that what was sought was a modification of the bycatch limit and speaks of a time limit that was not recorded in the minutes either.
Cantú ends up acknowledging the obvious, which is recorded in the minutes, regarding the increase in the percentage of bycatch requested, but fails to say that this limit was established by INIDEP, precisely, as a result of the excessive catches of bycatch that the vessel had in 2023. Tai An.
Aside from the fact that the actions of these two councilors already represent support for Prodesur, Cantú left no doubt about his intentions when he expanded on his position and that of the province in this situation, which is in favor of being grant to Liu Zijihian a quota of toothfish, even though he does not have a quota and has fished illegally.
"I'm going to tell you something else, it's not bad that we, in some way, can see what ease we can obtain for a company from Fuegian, which has the largest ship in the Argentine fleet, which operates in Ushuaia and has 80 crew members, with a very important economic movement, both port and logistics, and many families depend on this activity. So it is not bad for us to try to see how we can fix this problem. That is true, we agree, it was caused by the administrator. “We absolutely agree, but we have not done anything other than ask ,” said Cantú. Upon confession, release of evidence.
The support of the province of Tierra del Fuego for the Zhijiang businessman is not new, it had it before committing the scandalous infraction and it maintains it now.
When asked about the veracity of the note sent in January by Governor Gustavo Melella to the CFP requesting 300 tons for the Tai An ship when it does not have a quota to participate in the distribution of the Administration Reserve, Cantú confirmed it, and although he tried to make it up, falsifying its content, he ended up assuming it: “Actually the province requested it for the province and the province was going to award it to Tai An, that's clear,” Cantú was sincere.
The representative of Tierra del Fuego is clear that the Tai An vessel does not have a quota, but he does not care, he insists anyway and it is clear that he does not care that it is a businessman who illegally fished an internationally controlled species . Support for Zhijian is unconditional.
So much so that after giving a correct explanation to the journalist of how the Black Hake Management Reserve works, indicating that, unlike what happens with the hubbsi hake, it is only to redistribute among the quota holders and the eventual capture incidentally, when the journalist tells him that it is then reserved for quota boats, Cantú almost in a comedic step acknowledges: “That is absolutely true.”
The support that Prodesur receives from the province is striking: the reasons do not matter, the scientific recommendations or the regulations do not matter, nor does it matter if it is interceding on behalf of a proven offender. They are determined to fight to get 300 tons of toothfish. And it doesn't matter if that affects companies with a quota; In fact, Cantú himself believes that such a reduction would not cause them any inconvenience.
Fountain:
