Falklands tensions spur fishing ‘free-for-all’ in south Atlantic

{"text":[[{"start":7.6,"text":"Friction between the UK and Argentina over the Falkland Islands has led to a fishing “free-for-all” in the south-west Atlantic, as foreign fleets take advantage of the region’s failure to jointly manage stocks of squid, hake and other marine wildlife."}],[{"start":22.64,"text":"Long-distance fishing fleets from China, Spain and other countries have dramatically increased activity in recent years in the waters between Argentina, the Falklands and Uruguay — one of the busiest fishing areas in the world without a multinational body to manage fish stocks."}],[{"start":38.92,"text":"Businesses warn the situation, due in part to the long-running sovereignty dispute over the British overseas territory known in Argentina as the Malvinas, risks severely depleting fish populations that span both the 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zones near countries’ coasts and the high seas beyond them."}],[{"start":57,"text":"“Ultimately the risk is that at some stage the fishery fails,” said John Barton, chair of the Falkland Islands Fishing Companies Association. “That would have significant consequences for Argentina and also for the Falklands . . . for the whole region.”"}],[{"start":72.8,"text":"Fishing activity in the south-west Atlantic has been rising fast since the turn of the millennium. The estimated number of fishing hours by about 500 vessels has doubled over the past decade in the 20-nautical-mile strip bordering Argentina’s exclusive zone, according to satellite analysis by non-profit Global Fishing Watch."}],[{"start":92.08,"text":"The increase, as well as climate change’s potential to disturb fish migration patterns, has triggered calls among scientists for the creation of a so-called regional fisheries management organisation (RFMO)."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":103.32,"text":"“We urgently need to establish a body that allows us to manage these social-ecological systems as a whole,” said Omar Defeo, a professor of marine sciences at Uruguay’s University of the Republic."}],[{"start":115.4,"text":"“The main obstacle remains the lack of political agreements among the countries involved and the fleets operating in international waters that are decimating our resources.”"}],[{"start":125.36,"text":"There are around twenty RFMOs managing fish stocks around the world. Some cover individual species, with five entities focused on tuna, while others manage multiple species within a region, such as the South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation. While imperfect, scientists say the bodies offer an important first line of defence against overfishing."}],[{"start":146.44,"text":"Fish in the south-west Atlantic, which support 900,000 jobs, are under pressure. Only 55.2 per cent of the region’s stocks were being exploited at “biologically sustainable” levels in 2023, according to the most recent estimates by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization — an almost 3 percentage point drop from 2021."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":167.68,"text":"“There is effectively a free-for-all, and it’s our fisheries that will be affected by it,” said Janet Robertson, general manager of Consolidated Fisheries, a Falklands-based fishing company. “Having so much unregulated fishing, that’s where it all goes horribly wrong.”"}],[{"start":184.86,"text":"Ecological conditions make the high seas between Argentina and the Falklands particularly attractive to commercial fishing fleets. The Patagonian continental shelf has relatively shallow, nutrient-rich waters visited by large numbers of fish, including the Argentine shortfin squid."}],[{"start":201.56,"text":"Argentina and the UK began attempts to jointly manage fishing in the 1990s and 2010s under rightwing governments in Buenos Aires. But both were scrapped by left-leaning leaders from the Peronist movement, who tend to pursue the Falklands claim more aggressively."}],[{"start":217.28,"text":"Argentina’s rightwing president Javier Milei sought to warm relations with the UK early in his term, and Argentine and British officials discussed sharing information about foreign boats in the high seas during informal talks in 2025, according to two people familiar with the matter."}],[{"start":233.8,"text":"But those efforts now appear off the table as the advance of the Falklands’ first commercial offshore oil project prompts Milei to relaunch Argentina’s sovereignty push. He is toughening economic sanctions on the islands and launching international arbitration against the UK."}],[{"start":249.88,"text":"Argentina’s foreign ministry and fishing secretariat did not respond to requests for an interview."}],[{"start":254.96,"text":"One Milei official not authorised to speak publicly said a regional management body would “never be possible” because Argentina does not recognise the Falklands government and considers the fishing it licenses illegal. Fishing makes up almost two-thirds of the islands’ GDP."}],[{"start":270.36,"text":"One former Argentine official bemoaned the dispute’s impact on fish. “The depletion of stocks, which we don’t want to happen, is happening because we’re in this competition, and the UK is going to make it worse because of the oil,” he said."}],[{"start":284.2,"text":"The Falklands dispute is not the only factor that has prevented an RFMO in the region."}],[{"start":289.48,"text":"All countries that fish in the high seas would be entitled to participate and nations are concerned that an RFMO could backfire by “legitimising” foreign fleets, according to Philippe Le Billon, a professor at the University of British Columbia."}],[{"start":303.4,"text":"“What China is doing is not illegal, it’s just the scale is enormous,” he said. “The concern is they would become ‘part of the club’ but continue the same practices.”"}],[{"start":313.64,"text":"The expansion of China’s long-distance fleet in recent decades has alarmed Latin American governments. Ecuador, for example, denounced hundreds of Chinese vessels clustering just outside the waters of the ecologically sensitive Galápagos Islands in 2020, and accused boats of turning off tracking devices to avoid monitoring."}],[{"start":333.04,"text":"Half of the 554 vessels in the fishing area just outside Argentina’s economic zone analysed by Global Fishing Watch were Chinese. Chinese-flagged trawlers doubled their active fishing days there in the year to September 2026 compared to the same period a decade ago."}],[{"start":349.56,"text":"Spanish-flagged trawlers, a consistent group of about 30, also significantly increased activity, quintupling the number of days spent in the area. Taiwanese and South Korean squid jiggers also expanded fishing there."}],[{"start":362.56,"text":"China’s agriculture ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Earlier this year it rejected criticism of China’s fishing fleet as “political manipulation” by the US and said China “adopts a zero-tolerance approach towards illegal fishing” and “ranks among the top performers in fulfilling its obligations” under existing RFMOs."}],[{"start":383,"text":"China has previously announced moratoriums on squid fishing in areas of the south-west Atlantic to allow stocks to rebound, and in 2022 pledged to cap the number of Chinese vessels that could operate in the region."}],[{"start":395.08,"text":"However, environmental NGOs argue the measures appear to have moved fishing to different areas and different-sized vessels without reducing overall activity."}],[{"start":404,"text":"Milei’s government has stepped up policing at the edge of Argentina’s exclusive zone to prevent incursions by foreign vessels, issuing the equivalent of $3.5mn of fines between January and August."}],[{"start":417.28,"text":"Countries continue to manage fish stocks within their own waters. The Falkland Islands suspended the most recent fishing season for its small loligo squid because of unusually tiny catches and ordered some research to investigate the causes."}],[{"start":430.48,"text":"That kind of management is not happening on the high seas."}],[{"start":433.76,"text":"“With that governance gap, there is absolutely no incentive to do any type of conservation,” said Juliano Palacios Abrantes, a marine fisheries expert at global research initiative Solving-FCB."}],[{"start":445.48,"text":"“The mentality becomes: if I don’t fish it today, somebody else will fish it tomorrow.”"}],[{"start":456.92,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1793584803_5994.mp3"}