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Seafood available by season

What depends on closed seasons, what depends on the sanitation programme, and what depends only on the weather.

By Redacción THE WHOLE Published: Updated: Next review:

In Magallanes, "season" means three different things that get confused daily. It can mean a fishing closure set by resolution. It can mean a sanitary closure due to algal blooms, affecting bivalves by area. Or it can simply mean the weather did not let the boats out that week.

The three constraints

  • Fishing closure: set by SUBPESCA by resolution and changing between seasons. It mainly affects king crab and sea urchin.
  • Sanitation programme: administered by SERNAPESCA and affecting bivalves (mussel, clam, scallop, oyster) by harvest area.
  • Weather: not a regulation, but the most frequent constraint in daily practice.

Can a restaurant offer king crab during a closure?

It can offer frozen product legally harvested before the closure. What it cannot do is sell it as freshly caught. The right question at the table is "fresh or frozen?", and the answer should not make anyone uncomfortable.

Answers

  • ¿Qué productos del mar están en temporada?
  • Which seafood is in season?
  • ¿Qué productos están en temporada?
  • Which products are in season?
  • What is in season now?

Sources used

  • Closed seasons and fishery management measures.
  • Bivalve shellfish sanitation programme.

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