Production Zones Classification

San Matías Bay offers a wide variety of molluscs of great commercial value. Purple clams, “panopea” and navaja, tehuelche scallops, mussels, cholga and flat oysters are the jewels of artisanal fishing. Río Negro has developed since 1995 a zone classification programme of marine products to take advantage of these species. The zone classification consists of periodic monitoring of the sanitary environmental conditions where the molluscs produce such as the presence of “coliform” bacterias, paralizing toxins (diarrhetic and amnesic) heavy metals and organ-chlorated compounds.

In 1998, Río Negro classified the first production zone: Zone ARRN-001 in the highest category of environmental quality (A). This zone classification goes by national rules (SAGP resolution Nº 506/00) and the E.U. sanitary hygiene rules for the production and sale of “bivalvo” molluscs. At the moment, two other production zones (ARRN002) and (ARRN003) are in classification process.

These classification processes open the doors to international markets for the Patagonian region.