Illegal fishing is impoverishing Argentina

Illegal fishing impoverishes emerging populations, threatens species sustainability, and if current catch levels continue, future generations will be left without resources. This practice cannot be solved by meetings, congresses or theoretical meetings, since these illegal extractions are not based on biological but on economic and security reasons and because the main responsible for the continued illegal fishing are the major powers that make global catches outside their territories.

What is unusual is that no legal framework has precisely defined what “illegal fishing” is about. By illegal fishing we mean the fishing of fish species without compliance with international and national regulations and/or without official and/or independent control and/or without flag State control, in maritime areas where the maximum sustainable catch has not been previously established and/or damaging to the interests of third countries, fishing for species that interact, are associated with the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), or migrate, or that migrate from the high seas to the EEZ; or when fishing is carried out in invaded areas of third States (Malvinas case) and/or in the case of dispute (UN Res. 31/49), when an act of any kind is carried out that endangers the sustainability of fishing species and/or contaminates the environment and/or endangers food security and/or labor sources and/or the economy of the States.

Also when transnational organized crime gains benefits and/or tax evasion due to non-payment of taxes, fishing or import or export duties and/or species are discarded into the sea and/or the goods landed are not declared or are imported or exported by evading customs duties and/or their actions tarnish the reputation of the countries or communities to which they belong, contributing to the violation of the legal provisions ensuring good fishing practices agreed in conventions. The aim is to ensure sustainable, biologically sustainable and economically fair business operations.

Historical background and regulatory gaps

Illegal fishing has existed since humans discovered a way to survive in this resource. But in Latin America, the “Santiago Declaration” was adopted in 1952, setting a 200-mile limit to combat illegal foreign fishing. Although the topic was discussed institutionally 70 years ago at the first global meeting on sustainable fishing (UN Conference, Rome, FAO, 1955) with the aim of preventing “illegal fishing”, countless conferences and meetings have taken place since then without any reduction in illegal fishing. On the contrary, it continues and worsens, and to make matters worse, in 1999, at the 23rd session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI), the complicated formality of “illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing” (IUU) was “formalized” through a non-binding instrument, as if there were more or less serious illegal catches, thereby diluting the scope and severity of this practice.

The port of Vigo leads the illegal Spanish fishing in the Argentine sea

Illegal fishing is never reported or recorded! What businessman or fishing captain would incriminate himself? The FAO and its technocrats should abolish this name, which hides the true seriousness of illegal fishing.

Any illegal fishing is serious due to its negative biological, economic, fiscal, nutritional and social impacts! Discards on board constitute illegal fishing; the under-declaration or substitution of species in landings; uncontrolled transshipments; youth fishing; the use of unauthorized fishing gear; mining in prohibited areas; the false returns on board transformation; Consumer fraud in the declaration of weights (excess glaze, etc.) or false declarations of origin; Tax evasion; over- and under-invoicing; Fishing obtained through subsidies and/or slave labor or used to conceal drug trafficking, and other practices prohibited by fishing regulations.

Impact on Argentina and international responsibility

Worldwide, 90 million tons are fished annually (the same amount is produced through aquaculture), and the FAO estimates that 30% of these catches are illegal; that’s 27 million tons, which is worth almost $40 billion per year. In the southwest Atlantic, 2.34 million tonnes are caught annually, of which around 540,000 tonnes are discarded. Together with the millions of tons caught illegally, this means that illegal fishing in these seas reaches 1,540,000 tons annually, equivalent to an amount of about 6,000 million dollars, with very serious consequences for Argentina and its people. These figures do not take into account under-declarations or other circumvention practices.

These illegal catches are carried out in the EEZ by around 880 national vessels; in the Argentine waters of the Malvinas, with the United Kingdom issuing illegal licenses to Spanish-British vessels (58 licenses), Spanish (37), Korean (28) and Taiwanese (76); and on the high seas with approximately 450 Chinese (314), Spanish (24), Taiwanese (69) and Korean (42) vessels fishing for migrating resources from Argentina’s EEZ.

Fishing in Argentine waters of the Malvinas is illegal under a UN resolution. 31/49 and all regulations of Argentina and the European Union. It is unacceptable for this community to tolerate this practice since Spain has recognized Argentina’s independence. Since at least 1976, Argentine officials have failed in their duties as civil servants by failing to take action in this regard.

Adding to the confusion is the fact that some officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Undersecretariat of Fisheries, the Federal Council of Fisheries and the Marine Prefecture consider fishing for migratory resources from Argentina’s EEZ on the high seas to be legal. They do not understand that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) establishes the freedom to fish on the high seas, not the freedom to damage resources. This misinterpretation supports the position of foreign long-distance fishing vessels and ignores that the Convention was adopted by consensus in the context of maritime boundary disputes and not as part of a comprehensive ecosystem approach that protected resources both in the EEZ and on the high seas. Argentina cannot consider as legal the fishing on the high seas of migratory resources from its EEZ and associated species that intervene in the food chain, as this is contrary to its current legislation: Art. 5. Law 23.968; art. 2., incl. c, of law 24.543; and the arts. 4th, 5th and 21st to 23rd of Law 24.922. In addition, fundamental UNCLOS obligations are not met: the lack of effective control by the flag state; the lack of studies to determine the maximum sustainable catch; and fishing for migratory species without agreement with the affected coastal state. Added to this is bottom trawling on the continental shelf beyond 200 miles without government approval.

In Argentina there is an inability and political will to eradicate illegal fishing and no real interest from those primarily responsible for long-distance fishing. 85% of this practice occurs in five countries: China, Spain, Taiwan, Japan and Korea. This is an argument about proteins and economics, not biology. Dumb!

Illegal fishing seriously affects the sovereignty and development of the peoples of Argentina’s maritime coast. It is important to abandon large-scale conferences and move towards equitable bio-economic agreements that guarantee the sustainability of the resource. Argentina must exert international pressure to end this scourge, which is causing sovereign, biological, economic, commercial, food and social damage on an enormous scale.