Squid jigging fleet inside and outside the 200 miles border

Illegal fishing, the topic of the current season

ARGENTINA
Friday, March 19, 2021, 10:40 (GMT + 9)

Foreign fishing vessels activity at mile 201 puts the issue on the mainstream media grid for a few months. It is called illegal fishing although by definition of the FAO it would not be. It is necessary to have international standards to qualify it that way and to be able to combat it.

For a few years, every summer in these latitudes, "illegal fishing" has become a topic of maximum interest to the national media. It's the only time of year when fishing matters enough to take up more than a page or several minutes of air on prime time. This importance is given by the international character, its impact on biodiversity and the impressive images of a floating city with which it can be illustrated.

Photo: Sea Shepherd

Talking about illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is good to make the problem visible, but it is necessary to understand that continuing to call it illegal fishing takes us away from a possible solution. It is that by definition of the FAO this framework would not be correct; It is also not appropriate to call it undeclared, we could hardly name it as unregulated. Listing it properly is perhaps the first step to begin to control it and to be able to reliably establish its illegality.

The three hundred, four hundred and up to six hundred vessels that have been counted in mile 201 catch the same species that the Argentine fishing sector exploits under regulations of order to guarantee the sustainability and essential traceability to enter the markets. This situation is unfair and unfair for Argentine companies, but it is not necessarily an illegal situation.

Is that for the FAO "Illegal" fishing is carried out by national or foreign vessels in waters under the jurisdiction of a State, without permission or in contravention of its legislation. Also that carried out by vessels that fly the flag of States that are part of a competent regional fisheries management organization, but operate in contravention of the conservation and management measures adopted by that organization.

The organizations referred to are the famous RFOs and the only ones recognized in the South Atlantic according to the FAO are the Joint Technical Commission for the Maritime Front and the Southern Bluefin Tuna Commission.

Being international waters that are not under any type of legislation, it prevents us from being able to classify these ships as illegal, except for those ships that enter the Argentine Sea. The number of boats trapped in waters within our jurisdiction is negligible compared to the large number that sneaks into our Exclusive Economic Zone daily, but since they are not captured or identified, the universe of boats that we can call illegal is drastically reduced.

On the other hand, FAO understands "Unreported" fishing as that which has not been disclosed, or has been falsified before the competent national authority or the RFO to which the area corresponds. As there is no rule that obliges vessels to declare their catches, we are also unable to classify it within undeclared fishing.

Photo: PNA

Regarding unregulated fishing, FAO indicates that it is that carried out in areas or in relation to fish stocks for which there are no applicable conservation or management measures and in which these fishing activities are carried out in a a way that is not in line with the responsibilities of the State with respect to the conservation of living marine resources under international law.

Unregulated fishing is perhaps the only term that can fully define the fishing activities of foreign vessels in the South Atlantic, even if it is difficult for us to assume it. Both China and Spain, like most of the countries that send their ships to this and other distant latitudes of their countries, should behave towards natural resources under the same parameters as those that are governed in their country of origin and it is clear that this It does not happen.

In the South Atlantic there are no rules, they all fish indiscriminately and cause great damage to the environment, negatively impact fishing resources and result in unfair competition for our fishing industry that at the end of the chain will lead to loss of employment and wealth. But despite being absolutely harmful, the total absence of regulations prevents us from calling it illegal fishing.

Of course, there are many indications that it would be illegal fishing, as evidenced by the fact that a significant number of vessels carry out transshipments on the high seas, classified by the FAO as suspicious activity of illegal fishing; or they turn off the mandatory monitoring systems for navigation safety, a behavior also classified by this entity as suspicious activity.Loading fuel on the high seas or working hours that have sometimes been denounced as inhumane, also makes them suspect of illegal fishing.

But being suspected of illegal fishing is not the same as being illegal and this accounts for the complexity of the problem that Argentina faces. And the limitations that our country imposes on the claim of sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands complicate things even more, because they prevent progress in the promotion of RFOs or even in adhering to the FAO Port State Steering Program despite being a important tool.

The government assures that they cannot do much more than they do, which is very little. You can only count better satellite coverage by the security forces and nothing more than seriousness. Nothing can be expected from the cooperation agreements with China, the last one signed in the last administration of Cristina Fernández only served so that the Chinese benefited from the entry of jigger boats to our fishing ground, while illegal fishing did not enter into diary. With increasing economic ties, it is difficult to believe that something different will happen in Alberto Fernández's administration.

The limitations imposed by the path chosen by the current government in the face of the claim to sovereignty over the Malvinas and the increasingly dependent relationship with the Asian giant seem to leave us tied hand and foot in a situation that directly harms the interests of the Argentine fishing industry. Searching for management alternatives for fishing in international waters should be a priority for our leaders; instead of pompous and patriotic speeches, action is required.

Being able to classify the activity of the foreign fleet in the South Atlantic as illegal fishing would increase the possibilities of solving the problem, but this requires interdisciplinary work that until now only exists in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with no correlation in real life. You need to move from speeches of brilliant generalities to action.

Autor: Karina Fernandez / Revista Puerto

[email protected]
www.seafood.media

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