Argentina Bound--Long-Range Squid Fishing in the Southwest Atlantic

Back in the 1950s, dried squid was one of those expensive imported delicacies they sold down on Tihua Street that you could only see on special occasions.

At Chinese New Year, squid snacks are always a big favorite in the shopson Tihua Street.

Today, wholesalers put it on sale for NT$10 per squid, but it is so common that people are not necessarily moved to buy it.

When the catch is in, the crew members get busy separating out the squidand packaging them to be frozen; they don't rest all night.

What's different now is that Taiwan has built its own long-range squid fishing fleet; in fact, Taiwan is the top long-range squid fishing nation in the world.

Squid boats "work when the sun goes down, and rest when the sun comes up." When the squid lamps are turned on after sunset, the night is turnedinto day. （courtesy of the ROC Foreign Ministry representative officein Argentina）

The story begins in the fishing grounds off of Argentina.

The green-blue surface of the South Atlantic stretches off out of sight. A Taiwan squid fishing ship, 20,000 nautical miles from home, under escort from several seagulls, quietly waits for night to fall.

Dusk. Tests are done on the functions of the tens of squid fishing machines on board, and the rotary machines-which release or pull in the baited squid-fishing lines-turn without interruption.

The crew finishes dinner under a darkening sky, and prepares for work. Two hundred lights, each of 2000 watts, which are designed to attract the squid, are turned on. Instantly, the power of 400,000 candles lights the seas around the ship as if it were midday.

There are 20-30 hooks per rotary machine. When all the machines are up and running, the lines are lowered. The artificial bait glitters in the light like thousands of small luminescent fish in the sea. In mating season, squid think these are members of the opposite sex. Coming up to hook themselves a mate, they are themselves hooked.

The machines pull the lines back up. The squid are unhooked by centrifugal force at the rate of about one per second, being thrown into a net in the process. They the slide along a conduit to the handling tank. Still wildly spouting black ink, the squid are packed in freezer plates. After being quick-frozen, they are deposited in the freezer hold.

Busy for an entire evening, despite wearing gloves, boots, and hats, crew members working in the freezer hold still end up with frosty eyebrows, hair, and beards, and they are tired and hungry. After a hurried breakfast, they fall asleep in their clothes as the deep purple night turns into an orange-red dawn.

Squid rich

When you mention squid, most people in Taiwan think of the grilled squid or squid congee sold by vendors on street corners, in night markets, or at scenic areas; kung pao squid available in Sichuanese restaurants; or dried shredded squid to munch on when just hanging around.

In Taiwan's culinary culture, squid is indispensable. Yet Taiwan's waters have never held enough squid to make it a commercially viable catch. In the past, dried squid was imported from Japan and Korea. "Most people couldn't afford to eat it, but only bought it to give away as a gift or to use as an offering at religious or ancestral-worship ceremonies," recalls Chang Shu-ping, general manager of the Taiwan Squid Fishery Association.

Back in the 1950s, Chueh Chuang-ti, now a technical consultant to Taiwan's fishing industry, was responsible for fishing industry statistical work on the Ministry of Economic Affairs' committee to raise fishing industry production. He remembers that in seafood trade statistics, the number one import was always Korean squid.

"I went to Tihua Street to do a market survey, and everybody was talking about how they could get rich importing squid," he reminisces.

Today, Taiwan has a squid fleet of over 100 ships, representing a cumulative investment of NT$10 billion, and an annual production value of NT$5 billion per year. Taiwan is on a par with Korea as a squid fishing nation, with these two countries behind only Japan in this category. Moreover, since much of the catch in Japan and Korea is taken near home, Taiwan looks like the top-ranked country in terms of "long-range" squid fishing.

For Taiwan, lacking its own squid resources, this type of accomplishment has not come easily. Not to mention the fact that Taiwan's squid fishing industry has a history of only 20 or so years.

In 1972, the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction appropriated a sum of money to convert one fishing boat into a squid-catching craft to go into the Sea of Japan. The experiment was a great success, with the ship bringing back an incredible 60-plus metric tons in one go. The second year, private operators began to invest, with ships heading into the fishing grounds of the South Pacific, especially New Zealand.

At that time, the price of squid was higher in Taiwan than anywhere else in the world, yet consumption was high. Thus, with great profits to be made, Tihua Street's squid businesses, construction firms, and even doctors began to rush to invest.

Dark skies, fierce winds

However, at the beginning of 1977, Japan, the USSR, and New Zealand all declared 200-mile maritime economic zones. Because Taiwan had already lost its formal ties with these countries, it was in no position to negotiate for fishing rights, and the newborn squid fishing industry suffered a serious blow.

To open up new fishing grounds, in 1983 a number of ships traveled to the Falkland Islands, in the southwest Atlantic Ocean, and along the coast of Argentina, to catch squid. They discovered that catch volumes exceeded anything they had seen before, and since then the industry has expanded rapidly. To encourage the development of the industry, the government permitted the construction of fishing ships of more than 700 tons displacement. The largest built by the private sector so far is 2500 tons. The number of large long-range fishing ships has now surpassed 100.

"Right now, besides about 20 ships operating off New Zealand and another 30 or so in the southwest Pacific, the remainder-over half the fleet-operate in Argentine fishing grounds," says Henry Hong, assistant manager of the Squid Department at the FCF Fishery Company, Taiwan's largest seafood company.

He points out that squid fishing is the most arduous job in the whole fisheries industry. The squid season begins each February, and only ends at the end of August. Because fishing is always done at night, those involved must live half of each year with day and night reversed. When the fishing is good, there is no time at all at night to sleep. The intense lighting can cause skin damage, and you have to wear dark glasses all the time and absolutely cannot look straight into the light. "I've even seen mainland Chinese fishermen-trying to save money-rub squid ink on their eyeglasses, so they function as sunglasses."

Ports in Argentina suitable for squid fishing ships are scattered along the coast between 30 and 55 degrees south latitude. In southern Argentina, the wind is fierce the whole year, so that not even an inch of grass grows. When autumn rolls around in May, it begins to snow heavily. In the province of Santa Cruz, the population density is less than one person per square kilometer.

Roberto S.C. Hu , the person responsible for fisheries affairs in the ROC trade and cultural office in Argentina, says, shaking his head: "When the weather is cold, life is boring and harsh, and crewmen are on edge. There is often trouble among them, even to the point of getting into the Argentine media."

Under fire

Compared to today's situation, it was even more dangerous in the old days when Taiwan ships went fishing in the southwest Atlantic.

Before 1993, Argentina had not yet agreed to fisheries cooperation with any country, and fishing boats that happened to enter Argentina's maritime economic zone were known to be fired at or confiscated. In 1983, Taiwan's Hsien Teh #3 was sunk, with one man killed, another missing, and several others injured. In March of 1991, the Lung Wei 886 was fired upon by an Argentine cruiser; one man was killed. In April of 1992, an Argentine warship opened fire on the Yung Man #81, with one man suffering head injuries. And in the same year, the Ho Wen #1 was confiscated by the Argentine navy after entering that country's maritime economic zone.

There was a change of fortune only in 1993. Because Argentina decided to develop its fishing industry and develop its natural resources, it finally agreed to open up its maritime zone, cooperating with foreign fishing industries in two ways.

One method is "rental." Foreign ships can fish in Argentine waters by paying a fee for the rights. Also, a certain proportion of the crew members employed must be locals.

The second method is through joint ventures. Taiwan ship owners can establish a joint venture company with an Argentine citizen or company, selling their ship to this jointly owned company so that the ship can enter Argentina's registry.

"The first of these two methods, 'rental,' doesn't really allow the fishing industry to establish roots in Argentina. So this policy has been widely criticized," notes Chang Shu-ping. This method is also very disadvantageous for Taiwan's fishing industry.

Chang explains that in the past each rental ship had to pay a US$100,000 "resource fee." This has since increased to US$270,000. Moreover, it is also necessary to pay a local company a license fee, to pay fees for port entry and exit, and to pay salaries to Argentine crewmen. Altogether, costs add up to at least US$600,000 per year.

The biggest part of trade

"These costs are really too high," says Chang Shu-ping. Last year squid sold for NT$40-plus per catty. "This year the catch was huge, and the price will only be NT$20 per catty at most, which certainly won't cover costs," he says with concern.

As for the second cooperative method-registering the ship in Argentina under a joint venture company-the first-year costs are relatively high. When an Argentine company, jointly owned with a Taiwanese investor, buys a Taiwanese ship, it must turn over a 14% import tax to the government, so for the first year costs are US$600-700,000. But beginning with the second year, they are only about US$300,000. So more and more ships are taking Argentine registry.

According to the latest statistics available to Roberto Hu, the Taiwan representative in Argentina, last year there were 50 Taiwanese ships operating under joint ventures, while the number of rented ships had fallen to eight, and 30 ships were operating on the high seas beyond the Argentine maritime zone. There were three Taiwanese companies acting as local agents there, of which the largest was FCF, which acts for 31 ships.

Fishing is the largest of the economic links between Taiwan and Argentina. With a value of several tens of millions of US dollars per year, it accounts for about three-fourths of Taiwan-Argentina trade.

"It's is very helpful to the Argentine economy for Taiwan ships to catch squid here, creating many employment opportunities in the local economy," says local agent Mario Gonzales of Patagonica SRL. For example, opportunities to flourish exist for many businesses-docks, freezer warehouses, trucking, food processing, water and fuel supply, and other services.

Allan Hew, chief representative in Argentina for the FCF , declares: "Our company alone spends between US$5-7 million per year here."

No wonder that, in the past, when Taiwanese fishing ships were stationed in the anchorage near San Julian harbor-a small port on the 49th parallel that had not had any ships stop there in years-it was a real cause for celebration for people there.

Mutual criticism

Though Argentina has helped Taiwan to create the largest long-range squid fishing industry in the world, and Taiwan has brought much income to Argentina, the two sides can still be critical of one another.

Every year when the fishing season ends, most Taiwanese ships do their refitting at Capetown, South Africa. Argentine public opinion is very unhappy that Taiwanese take this money-making opportunity elsewhere.

"The reason everybody goes all the way to South Africa to refit is that the parts they need are based on Japanese norms, but the ship parts made in Argentina are for European standards, and can't be used. And if we wanted to import the parts, the tariffs would be very high." Further, in Argentina prices and wages are high, but efficiency is not, so, comments Chang Shu-ping: "Commerce is, after all, investment in the pursuit of profit, so how can ships remain here to refit?"

Not very efficient-that's the common criticism people in Taiwan's fishing industry make about Argentina.

FCF's Allan Hew, who hails from Singapore, says that in his home country ships coming into port need give only 72 hours notice, and their agents can have all arrangements made by the time they arrive. But procedures are very complicated in Argentina. For example, to transfer the catch to freezer ship, one must first have approval from the Bureau of Fisheries, with documents sent to the maritime defense forces and customs. "The customs report alone has five forms for five different agencies, and if any one of these agencies hasn't given the word, then the operation can't go forward."

Still, suggests shipping agent Mario Gonzales, many of the procedures are necessary. "Generally Taiwan crewmen don't carry passports, and the ships just head to foreign countries without any kind of international identification whatsoever. If they prepared in advance, they could greatly reduce trouble later."

Further, the biggest problem Taiwan ships face is overloading. "Exceeding the safe waterline puts both the ship and crew at risk. But it seems like Taiwan ships don't care very much about safety. Often their safety equipment-lifejackets, fire-fighting equipment, signal flares-is obsolete and useless, but they won't install new stuff," says Mario Gonzales. These are problems that the Argentine government takes very seriously. However, many ship's captains have a lot of experience now, and the situation has improved somewhat.

Under an assumed name

Though things are improving, one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch.

Take for example illegal entry into the exclusive maritime economic zone to catch fish. Last May, the Taiwanese ship Tung Heng #3, which is supposed to operate only in the high seas, was painted red to give it the false appearance of a joint venture ship, and entered into the economic zone. It was discovered by the Argentine navy and held. The Argentine fishing bureau recently decided to fine the ship US$1 million, and to confiscate the 450 metric tons of squid on board.

Roberto Hu, who had to clean up this mess, was furious because the incident was a serious blow to the nation's image. As he wrote on May 29 in an urgent cable back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Council of Agriculture in Taipei, "If anyone does anything like this again, we should use our power of administrative judgment and reject their application to send their catch back to Taiwan for that year."

Besides encroaching on the economic zone, Taiwan ships have problems over the issue of nation of registry.

According to ROC law, when a ship takes a foreign registry, when its catch is sent back to Taiwan, it is treated as imported, and customs taxes must be paid. This is a heavy burden. Moreover, to prevent the industry growing excessively and exhausting resources, the government gives only a limited number of licenses. Ships may be scrapped and replaced, but no new ones may be added. When a ship gives up ROC registry, it loses the right to keep its license through scrapping and replacement.

In the past, in order to retain ROC registry, some operators who took Argentine registry sought loopholes amongst the various laws, a tactic which Argentina did not like. Thus Argentina began a trans-national survey.

"The fundamental solution would be to alter Taiwan's ship laws," says Chang Shu-ping. In international maritime law one article states that ships which, through rental or joint ventures, enter the registry of a different country, suspend their original registry. The term "suspend" suggests that they can later restore their original registry.

To completely resolve this problem, the Squid Fishery Association has proposed to the Council of Agriculture that the government follow the method used by Spain, and change Taiwan's laws. The relevant government agencies understand that the trend in international fishing cooperation is toward registry in another country. Since it is hard for the shipping law to keep up with the situation, the government has already agreed to add the following administrative order to the regulations: "When fishing ships enter the registry of another country through international cooperation, their catch can be treated the same as that of an ROC-registered ship."

Too many ships, too large catches

Besides the short-term problem of registry, the long-range fishing industry faces a long-term conservation concern. This problem is not, by the way, the one of "collateral catch" of non-target species that so troubles environmentalists; squid fishing techniques are very selective.

Rather, there is the threat of overfishing. The squid catch off Argentina totals 300,000 tons per year. More than 80% of the squid sold in Taiwan comes from there. Although squid reproduce every year or two, today's ships are simply too efficient.

An article in issue 94 of REDES, the magazine of the Argentine fishing industry, noted that the volume of the local squid catch in 1996 had increased by almost half over the previous year. "The Argentine fishing industry has been growing for ten straight years, so that now some important fish varieties are showing signs of being depleted, and criticism within that country is far from negligible," says Roberto Hu.

Lee Jen-chyuan, director of the Fisheries Department of the Council of Agriculture, adds: "Taiwan's fishing industry must have a stronger sense of conservation. Rather than just focusing on fishing, they should also participate in resource management and give due weight to both use and conservation. That is the only way they can build a reputation as a responsible fishing industry, and serve the cause of sustainable use."

What is meant by "responsible" fishing? Ships over 24 meters in length, besides having anti-pollution and safety and rescue equipment, should report their positions and their daily catch, and keep a detailed daily fishing log, recording the season, time, water temperature, depth, longitude and latitude, size of the fish caught, and catch volume. This would allow international organizations to keep track of fish populations and provide data for scientific research.

"Besides the current requirements of fee-paying and cooperating with scientific research, in the future, countries with fisheries resources will establish regional organizations. Anyone who wants to fish there will have to negotiate a quota with the regional authority," says The Call of the Sea: The International Responsibilities of Taiwan's Long-Range Fishing Industry, an illustrated book prepared by the Council of Agriculture for the industry.

Protein for the future

So long as the resources are properly managed and efficiently used, fishing is the hope for the future food supply for mankind.

Since ancient times, Westerners have seen squid and other cephalopods as monstrous, and not everyone has been fond of eating squid. In fact, only East Asians and Southern Europeans have traditionally consumed it. Sha Chih-yi, who is head of the Taiwan Fisheries Bureau, notes that stocks of many types of fish currently widely consumed are being rapidly depleted. International food experts are turning their attention to so-called "non-traditional" ocean resources that were not previously exploited.

Of these, there are abundant resources of squid and other cephalopods. If people were to directly consume cephalopods-which come relatively early in the food chain-this would greatly extend the use of ocean creatures, and provide a rich source of animal protein. That is why, as early as the 1970s, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization listed cephalopods as a main focus for future animal protein sources.

"Taiwan's squid processing industry has reached world standards, and is probably number one in processing of squid chops and squid meatballs," says Chueh Chuang-ti, who, as one of the earliest to urge the development of the squid industry in Taiwan, is considered the father of the industry. He feels that the industry could be even bigger in the future. "As for potential markets, the most obvious is mainland China. In the past as much as one-third of the squid produced by Taiwan's squid industry ended up in the mainland market, and this will increase in the future."

For Taiwan, a squid fishing power with no squid resources of its own, the future may be one of a profitable market with no available resources to sell to it. Can Taiwan's squid industry continue to remain at the top of the world? It all depends on how well we can cooperate with those nations that have the resources, and how efficiently we use our own strengths.

p.119

Taiwan's fishing industry began cooperation with Argentina in 1993, and more and more Taiwan ships are "turning red"-i.e. entering Argentine registry.

p.120

Beneath the brilliant sunshine of Kaohsiung, rows of squid are laid out to dry.

p.121

At Chinese New Year, squid snacks are always a big favorite in the shops on Tihua Street.

p.122

When the catch is in, the crew members get busy separating out the squid and packaging them to be frozen; they don't rest all night.

p.123

Squid boats "work when the sun goes down, and rest when the sun comes up." When the squid lamps are turned on after sunset, the night is turned into day. (courtesy of the ROC Foreign Ministry representative office in Argentina)

p.124

(left, right) When the fishing boat is filled, they must notify the freezer ship to transfer the catch, so that they can make room to maximize their catch during the peak fishing season.

p.127

When the catch is brought into Kaohsiung, food processing firms send special delivery vehicles to the port to off-load the squid directly.

（left, right） When the fishing boat is filled, they must notify the freezer ship to transfer the catch, so that they can make room to maximizetheir catch during the peak fishing Season.

（left, right） When the fishing boat is filled, they must notify the freezer ship to transfer the catch, so that they can make room to maximizetheir catch during the peak fishing Season.

When the catch is brought into Kaohsiung, food processing firms send special delivery vehicles to the port to off-load the squid directly.