Fishing boats in the port of Piriapolis (Uruguay). © Duffour/Andia.fr (Getty Images)

Uruguay has more maritime than land area, but the richness of its waters is not among the priorities of the national agenda. The country of 3.4 million inhabitants prefers to look towards 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 the fishing industry in particular have lost in research, development and productivity. This is reflected in a recent report by the CERES center, which accounts for the decline of industrial fishing in Uruguay, whose production fell by 49% in the last decade.

"The country has turned its back on the sea," says Ricardo Fierro, a 61-year-old veteran sailor. Now retired, Fierro sailed more than 30 years on the high seas and witnessed the rise and decline of the fishing industry. In the port of Montevideo, he walks on the edge of an old fleet of ships that has not set sail for weeks. "They're very old and don't have the maintenance needed to operate," he says. The age of the ships and their continuous ailments on the high seas explain part of the deterioration of this industry that in 2011 employed 3,000 people and today employs 1,600.

According to the report, Uruguay's fishing fleet went from 124 boats two decades ago to 54 today. These boats have an average age of more than 35 years, when it is advisable to renew it every 20. "Aging is a problem that will only get worse over time," he says. More investment in the private fleet is needed, the research says, but also reviewing "ineffective regulations" that hinder productivity. In addition, it points to conflicts and union strikes – 45 days in 2022 – as another factor that has harmed the normal development of fishing.

Regarding the regulations, the president of the Chamber of Fishing Industries, Juan Riva-Zucchelli, calls for the modification of the current fishing permit system, which only enables the capture of one species per vessel. "It's a limiting structure that could be improved if ships had a multipurpose license," he says. Under the current regime, there are larger vessels authorized to fish hake, those of smaller draft that have a license for croaker and whiting, while other vessels – today almost non-existent – catch different species, such as tuna or octopus.

Within this framework, industrial fishing has concentrated on catching tons of hake, croaker and whiting, 90% of which are exported. 2005 was an outstanding year: more than 110,000 tonnes of fish were produced. However, that figure has fallen back to 40,000 on average per year. According to the report, between 2011 and 2021 there was a 49% drop in production, due to labor difficulties and regulatory aspects. "The unions have had a combative attitude and have not understood that we are in the same boat," says Riva-Zucchelli. For the entrepreneur, these circumstances have caused the fleet to sail on average 190 days instead of 300 or more days a year, with the consequent drop in productivity.

File image of two fishermen in Lake Rocha, in the Department of Rocha (Uruguay). Christopher Pillitz (Corbis via Getty Images)

Life and work on the high seas, says sailor Fierro, have a singularity unknown to most Uruguayans. "The boats were made to be at sea, to be fishing and not stranded on the docks," he says in the face of criticism. He stresses that the work of sailors is seasonal, so they only get paid if there is fishing. In addition, he explains that the work involves great physical exhaustion, with unlimited days, in conditions on board that are far from optimal. Added to the age of the ships, these particularities of the work on the high seas generate differences. "It is a conflictive sector because the situations are complex," he adds.

Another key aspect addressed by the report concerns the limited research on marine resources and their potential use. Vila-Zucchelli recalls that Uruguay has a scientific vessel, the Aldebaran, but it has been damaged for more than two years and there is no sign that this will change soon. In practice, the businessman continues, Uruguayan observers go out in Argentine boats, which give the necessary information to establish the quantities of catches allowed in the common fishing zone, which Argentina and Uruguay share.

The reality of the Uruguayan fishing industry must be addressed by integrating the different perspectives: ecological, social and economic, summarizes Luis Orlando, a biologist specialized in fishery resources. "We must tend to a participatory model so that the fishing sector, researchers and the administration work together," he says. Orlando emphasizes that the fish population changes and adapts to the conditions of an area that receives hot currents from Brazil, a cold one from Argentina and the discharge of the Rio de la Plata. This does not always meet industry expectations. "It is a natural system, they are living resources and you have to understand them very well to be able to manage them," he says.

Growth potential

CERES assures that, respecting the limits of the ecosystem, the Uruguayan fishing industry could increase its fishing volume for export by 123%. This would have an impact of $200 million each year and result in the creation of more than 2,000 jobs. "(Uruguayan) fishing has a diversified insertion in international markets," he says. However, it warns of the risk of losing competitiveness compared to other countries with a more developed industry. In this regard, it recommends renewing the fleet, expanding and diversifying production to other species, as well as stimulating domestic consumption.

That is probably the toughest challenge facing Uruguay's fishing industry: getting Uruguayans to bring fish to their table, the great stone guest in the local diet. The inhabitants of the eastern republic eat on average 94 kilograms of meat per year (mostly beef) and only 7 kilograms of fish on average annually. The task is titanic.

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