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Photo: Revista Puerto/FIS
IUU Fishing Threatens Certification of Argentine Illex Squid: The US and Europe are Key Destinations
ARGENTINA
Wednesday, November 05, 2025, 00:10 (GMT + 9)
Inefficient controls in international markets complicate Argentine efforts to guarantee the sustainability of its squid, with the bulk of imports originating from vessels denounced for human rights violations and Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, according to a report by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF).
According to a recent report by the British organization Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), the United States is the main buyer of illex squid from Argentina, sourced from vessels operating in Mile 201 or FAO 41—the designation of origin under which it enters the markets. Canada follows as the second largest importer, and Spain as the third, functioning as the gateway to the European continent.
Photo: gentileza EJF
Revista Puerto details the distribution of the key identified importers:
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United States: accounts for 44.4% of identified importers and buyers.
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Canada: represents 31.6%.
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European Union: absorbs 12.8%, with Spain taking in nearly 10% of Argentine squid exported by the Chinese fleet.
"This ranking holds when identifying the destination of squid caught by vessels with reports of physical abuse, labor abuses, and even deaths," states the EJF report verbatim.
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'Exemplary' Controls Questioned
Following the report's publication, Spanish officials, including Fisheries Secretary María Isabel Artime García and Minister Luis Plantas, defended Spain's "exemplary" and "excellent" import controls.
However, the European Union Coalition against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUU Coalition) recently acknowledged the inefficiency of these controls, admitting that:
Almost all illex squid from Mile 201 enters Europe with a sworn declaration. Furthermore, the Galician newspaper Faro de Vigo cross-referenced vessel identification data (IMO number) with the authorization number granted by the European Union for market entry, discovering nine vessels with reports of human rights violations and active alerts on the IUU fishing vessel list.
La flota gallega que opera en la milla 201 no siempre cumple con lo que pregonan sus autoridades. Foto: gentileza EJF
The conclusion is that the database in the entry ports is not even updated, allowing these vessels to continue trading and proving the Spanish officials' claims of "excellence" are far from reality.
Risks and Shortcomings for Argentine Certification
The frictionless market entry of IUU fishing products complicates the certification of the illex argentinus squid fishery sought by the Argentine Pot Fishery Chamber (CAPA) through its Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs) with the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership.
Carmen González Vallés, from the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, highlighted the difficulties:
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 Regional Problem: "Argentina is a country with good stock management, but Illex at the regional level still lacks a scientific consensus and there are no management measures at the international level either."
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Unfair Competition: The main obstacle is that, under the same denomination, squid caught unsustainably in the South Atlantic reaches the markets.
- Lack of National Traceability: "Traceability does not exist from the bottom up either... once it's seen what is fished, the Illex is landed in Argentina, and that's where it ends, the product is diluted in the value chain."
González Vallés concludes that the lack of importer cooperation, the absence of even biological cooperation agreements, and these internal and external failures create: "risks at the fishery level, environmental risks, social risks, and the complexity of the value chain," making certification difficult.
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