MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Report warns foreign fleets off Argentina catch up to four times the national industry's haul

The foundation warned that, if the current level of exploitation continues, resources that are strategic for the economy could be compromised

Foreign fleets operating along the outer edge of Argentina's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) —the so-called Mile 201— extract up to four times the volume caught by the entire national fishing industry, according to a report by the Latin American Foundation for Fisheries Sustainability (FULASP) released on the International Day for the Fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing. The organization called the activity one of the main threats to the fishery resources of the South-West Atlantic.

According to the report, each year between 400 and 600 vessels, coming mainly from China, South Korea and Taiwan, gather alongside Argentina's EEZ to catch migratory species linked to the local ecosystem. While Argentine fishing lands between 750,000 and 900,000 tonnes a year, captures in the South-West Atlantic range from 1.5 to 3 million tonnes, so that the international fleets may extract between two and four times the national volume, depending on the species and season. Between 2019 and 2024, extraction in the area grew 65%, and the Chinese fleet's fishing effort rose 85%.

The most heavily targeted species is the Illex argentinus squid, which lives barely one or two years and is a central link in the marine food chain, serving as food for hake, marine mammals and seabirds. “The real problem is not only that they take more volume than Argentine fishing. The most serious damage is biological: many species are being caught before completing their natural cycle,” warned Raúl Cereseto, president of FULASP. The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) agrees that, in the case of Illex, the combination of fishing pressure and unfavorable environmental conditions could cause a population collapse “in just a year.”

The pressure also reaches the waters of the Falkland Islands. According to official reports from the archipelago, 261,903 tonnes were caught there in 2024 under licenses granted by the United Kingdom —a figure that, for FULASP, reflects mounting pressure on migratory species shared across the South Atlantic. Common hake (Merluccius hubbsi), which spawns in Patagonian coastal waters and then moves to the islands' shelf to feed, totaled 54,714.5 tonnes, the fourth-highest annual figure since 1989. In the case of hoki, genetic studies suggest it is a single stock shared among Argentina, Chile and the Falklands.

The data also point to conservation measures, however. In 2024, the Falklands' fishery authorities suspended the second Loligo squid season after estimated biomass fell below the conservation threshold of 10,000 tonnes. FULASP, for its part, questioned the granting of long-term fishing quotas to third-country fleets in waters administered by the United Kingdom.

The foundation warned that, if the current level of exploitation continues, resources that are strategic for the economy could be compromised, with an impact on exports, jobs, food production and biodiversity. Cereseto summed it up with an analogy: on a ranch with a thousand cows, slaughtering adult animals keeps the herd stable, “but if you start killing calves, young cows and females before they can reproduce, sooner or later that herd disappears.” “The same thing happens at sea,” he concluded.