MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina joins FAO treaty against illegal fishing, tightening control in the South Atlantic

The area is cut across by the sovereignty dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the Falklands

Argentina on July 17 enacted the law approving its accession to the Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA) of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a significant step for fisheries governance in the southwest Atlantic. The treaty, in force since 2016, is the only binding international instrument specifically designed to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The agreement seeks to prevent, deter, and eliminate such fishing by keeping the vessels involved from accessing ports and landing their catches, thereby blocking products of illicit origin from reaching national and international markets. Its more than one hundred parties — among them large-scale fleets such as those of the European Union and China — must apply strengthened controls, inspections, and data sharing, both to foreign-flagged vessels and to their own fleets.

The accession came days after Buenos Aires hosted a regional workshop marking the treaty's tenth anniversary, and follows Argentina's adoption in February of the International Maritime Organization's Cape Town Agreement on fishing-vessel safety. With this step, Argentina aligns with Chile and Uruguay, also parties to the PSMA, so that much of the Southern Cone coastline is now covered by the mechanism. According to The Pew Charitable Trusts, which promotes cooperation against illegal fishing in the region, coordination among these countries will enable joint implementation and make it harder for irregular operators to market illicit catches.

The southwest Atlantic is one of the world's most active fishing areas, with large distant-water fleets operating on the high seas at the edge of Argentina's exclusive economic zone. High-value species such as squid, hake, and shrimp are intensively targeted in the region.

The area is cut across by the sovereignty dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the Falklands. Argentina does not recognize the fisheries conservation zone administered by the islands' government, and the two sides manage shared stocks separately, which has for years complicated coordinated regulation of activity in the South Atlantic. Accession to the PSMA concerns port control of foreign-flagged vessels and does not alter the parties' positions on sovereignty.

Argentina's accession was presented by its proponents as a signal of greater transparency and cooperation in the fishing sector, at a time when port states are seen as key actors in shutting illegal catches out of international trade.