Malvinas Islands hake bycatch cap raised to 50%, Argentina's INIDEP publicly objects!
A new dispute has arisen in Southwest Atlantic fisheries management. According to the Argentine fisheries media outlet Revista Puerto, after the 2026 shortfin squid (Loligo gahi) season was closed early and permanently, the fisheries authorities of the Malvinas Islands (known in the UK as the Falkland Islands) recently raised the bycatch cap for Argentine hake in these waters from its previous level to 50%, citing increased hake abundance that is crowding out shortfin squid. The decision was immediately publicly questioned by Argentina's National Institute for Fisheries Research and Development (INIDEP).
The focus of the dispute is the scientific basis. Otto Wöhler, INIDEP's Director of Research, said bluntly that the Malvinas authorities' judgment that "rising hake biomass is squeezing shortfin squid" lacks sufficient scientific support, and warned that sharply relaxing the bycatch cap would impact the optimal spawning stock of hake—that is, allowing fishing vessels to take a higher proportion of hake while targeting other species, which in effect amounts to an indirect reduction of the hake resource. Wöhler judged that the Malvinas authorities' real intention is to suppress hake biomass in these waters by raising bycatch mortality, thereby freeing up space for the recovery of the shortfin squid fishery.
Shortfin squid is the most commercially valuable cephalopod resource in Malvinas waters, and the 2026 season has already been closed early and permanently due to poor stock conditions—the direct context for this adjustment of bycatch policy by the Malvinas authorities. But in the view of scientists on the Argentine side, using relaxed hake bycatch to "protect squid" shifts one resource management problem into a risk for another stock: the 50% bycatch cap is far above internationally common bycatch control levels, and hake, as a core species of Argentina's own fisheries, has stock changes that directly affect raw material supply for Argentine fleets and processing plants.
On the other side of the same waters, data from Argentina's own fishing season reveal the weight of the hake industry. Cumulative landings at the Puerto Madryn docks have reached 184,800 tonnes this year, of which Argentine hake has held steady at 17,000 tonnes; nationally, hake, red shrimp and squid together form the three pillar raw materials for export processing. Argentina's Congress is advancing fisheries traceability legislation, with industry views holding that the key is to integrate existing systems rather than start from scratch; bills related to Malvinas sovereignty are also moving forward in parallel. Overlapping management-rights disputes and scientific disagreements have made quota and bycatch policy in these waters a long-standing friction point between Argentina and the UK.
In the same interview, Wöhler also discussed the quota reform and fleet expansion for Argentine red shrimp. He expressed support for quota-based management of Argentine red shrimp and a positive assessment of the 18 newly added squid jigging vessels (poteros) in the industry. In 2026, Argentina's national red shrimp season output has exceeded 130,000 tonnes, with abundant stock, but the catch rate is fast, per-unit output declines late in the season, and the hake bycatch ratio rises—a bumper harvest at the biological level does not necessarily equal optimal returns at the industry level.
What remains unresolved: whether the Malvinas authorities will respond to INIDEP's questions, how the 50% bycatch cap will actually be enforced, and how quickly the shortfin squid resource will recover after the permanent closure of the season. For Chinese distant-water squid jigging fleets operating in the Southwest Atlantic, the dynamics of shortfin squid and Argentine shortfin squid (Illex argentinus) resources in these waters are an important reference for next year's operating plans.