The Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food(SAGARPA) will allocate MXN 379 million (USD 20.7 million) this year in support to develop the fisheries and aquaculture potential of Campeche and Tabasco.
This was announced by Mario Aguilar Sanchez, head of the National Aquaculture and Fisheries Commission (CONAPESCA), which is the body through which aid will be channeled.
This investment will cover the updating of major and minor vessels; works and studies, strengthening inspection and monitoring, aquaculture projects, processing and marketing products, development of production chains as well as resources of the Fisheries Direct Support Programme (Propesca), among other things.
The aids are part of the Economic Recovery Programme and Productive Development of Campeche and Tabasco, recently presented by President Enrique Peña Nieto. This programme is expected to boost shrimp production in the region, whose processing plants will help generate more than 9,000 new direct jobs and an economic impact exceeding MXN 1,200 million (USD$65.6 million), according to the forecasts.
Aguilar said that the announced measures on fisheries issues will enable to reverse the downward trend in production and value because in the 1980s, when the restriction on catches began in the Gulf of Mexico, it was up to 28,000 tonnes of shrimp and in 2015 it was 11,000 tonnes of the crustacean.
USD $20.7 million to recover fisheries and aquaculture in Campeche and Tabasco
He stressed that thanks to fishermen’s strength and effort, during the current Federal Administration total production of species in Campeche is higher than the 52,000 tonnes — of the highest historical ones — with more than MXN 1,200 million in value, which is also a historical high.
(PHOTO: gettyimages.com)
The package of measures and actions announced by the federal Government reinsert Campeche on the route of what it has always been: an eminently fishing state with aquaculture importance now, said the national commissioner.
CONAPESCA head said that under the leadership of SAGARPA secretary, Jose Calzada Rovirosa, there are advances in the implementation of a fishing activity with scientific bases around the country to maintain the responsible and sustainable catch of resources without overimplementing the fishing effort.
Therefore, he said, in the area of 10,000 square kilometres that will open for fishing off the coast of Campeche and Tabasco, INAPESCA will perform a technical-scientific prospecting study, which will reveal the biomass of the species and assess the fishing resources that are available to establish a Management Fisheries Plan.
At the same time, satellite monitoring of the large fleet will be strengthened, as the boats have tracking devices that allow CONAPESCA to know, in real time, where, when and how much they operate.
Source: fis.com
