Following the cancellation of the toothfish management plan by the administrative court, the French Southern and Antarctic lands administration launched a new call for tenders and granted fishing authorizations to nine boats at the beginning of August. Seven of them are the “ship-ship couples” already selected during the 2019-2022 period and who have renewed their applications : four for Sapmer and its subsidiaries, one for Cap Bourbon, one for Comata and one for Pêche Avenir. Two new authorizations are also granted, to a vessel presented by the company Réunion Pêche Australe et à l’Austral, the Sapmer boat which currently operates in the lobster fishery in Saint-Paul and Amsterdam. RPA had not been retained by the TAAF as part of the previous toothfish management plan, implemented in 2019. The company, whose main shareholder is the Réunimer group, obtained a quota of 100 tonnes of toothfish in 2016 and chartered an Australian boat to fish., le Corinthian Bay. The fishing quotas allocated to each vessel will be known in the coming weeks. They will be distributed within the limits of the total allowable catches (TAC) of Patagonian toothfish set by a decree of July 4 at 5,950 tonnes for three years (5,050 tonnes for Kerguelen and 900 tonnes for Crozet), after scientific advice from the National Museum of Natural History. The TACs were 6,000 tonnes in previous campaigns : the nine boats selected will therefore have to share a slightly decreasing tonnage.
