¡Protejamos al Dorado!

It should be finished the indiscriminate capture of the “Dorado fish”, keeping it exclusively for sport fishing, and with this action we will promote national and international tourism. .

SUMMARY:

The Federal Fishing Council is the one that must fix the prohibition regulating its exploitation but meanwhile it has to be passed a decree for national emergency.
The Author points out that the “Dorado” Salminus maxillosus, also called “Pirayú” and known like “The tiger of the river” is almost a symbol of the Argentine Littoral and it lives in the rivers of the Plata Basin. It was declared a fish of national interest in all its area of distribution by the Argentine Republic in the year 1966.

The “Dorado” is a migrant fish that goes up the river current in the months of October and November in a reproductive and tumultuous exodus called “piracema”.

The purpose of this work is to alert about the depredation of this kind of fish, due to in discriminated capture with modern fishing methodology.

It is a fact to see it cut like a fillet in some supermarkets of the City of Buenos Aires, ignoring that this is one of the most attractive fish for sport fishing’s and it also calls the attention of fishermen all over the world.

The exports of the “Dorado”, which in the year that it was indicated its protection by declaring it “Fish of National Interest” (1966), reached the 327 Tons. raised to 543 Tons. 66 % (per cent) more in 1997.

According to the official figures given by SENASA (National Service of the Health and Quality of Food and Agricultural Products), regarding the capture and exports of the species and the lack of data of biomass, the Author follows, in this case, his own information based in the scarcity of the “Dorado” in the traditional sport fishing places and also, because of the reduced size of the ones which are scarcely caught and cannot be compared with those of other seasons.

We also considers very important that the Sub secretary of Fishing together whit the Argentine Chancellery, could revise the eventual functioning of the weir for fish in the Itaipú dam, which could be working in a negative way to its migration.
He defends the idea of an extreme seriousness for the survival of the “Dorado”, because the atrophic feeding chain could be cut off caused by the continuous capture, estimated in more than one hundred thousand Tons. per year of the “Sábalo” (Prochilodus platensis) and from that quantity exported, thirty thousand Tons. are exported from the Port Victoria, in the Argentine Province of Entre Ríos.

The “Sábalo” together with the “Mojarra”(Astyanax sp.) and the “Boga”(Leporinus obstusidens) are its main nourishment.

The Author believes that, The Federal Fishing Council, created by Law Number 24.922 in the article 8 of the National Fishing Law, that was published in The Official Bulletin dated January 12, 1988, is the one that must fix the prohibition or else, something that would be ideal, keep the species exclusively for sport fishing, in the same way as it happens in The Patagonia with the Trout,(Salmo fario, Salmo irideus u Oncorhynchus mykiss).

Even if the mentioned council does not put into action its authority because of some business and political uncongenial factors, some officers support the idea that its actions is only reserved for the control of the maritime species and not for those of the rivers. Now, the Author thinks that this point is a matter of discussion.

The Federal Fishing Council, among other duties, should establish the Maximum Limit Allowed for Capturing of the Sweetwater species, having in mind the Maximum Defensible Production, according to the biomass data given by The National Research Fishing Development Institute (INIDEP), as it is stated in the clause c of the article 9th. Of the Law mentioned above.

Before this void of legislation, The National Executive Power, must correct this misstatement by passing an emergency decree that keeps the fishing of the “Dorado” exclusively for sport purposes, forbidding in this way, in all the national territory, its fishing for business object.

Later on, such decree should be submitted to The Argentine Congress to they can pass a Law if it were necessary.

The Author informs, that he has done a lot of petitions in all the national and provincial organizations involved in this matter, because being both an Argentine citizen and a Veterinary Doctor, it is a commitment for him to take care and protect the wild fauna that is found in the Argentine Territory, as it is stated by Law 22.421 and because this Law applies, definitely, to all the ichthyologic and watery fauna.

In the same way, he remarks that, in case that the depredation of the “Dorado” continues, he is going to start a legal claim defending the true own rights.

He believes it is the right time to request the cooperation of the colleagues and all the persons and organizations that are willing to carry out this initiative that, not only will avoid the depredation of such a harmonious fish like the “Dorado” is, but it will also help the tourist attraction and the economic development through its sport fishing