Dr. César Lerena, an expert in fishing and the South Atlantic , has published a strong criticism of the workshops on illegal fishing organized by the Secretariat of Fisheries and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs between Wednesday the 3rd and Friday the 5th of this month. According to Lerena , the workshops, which supposedly seek to combat "Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing" ( IUU ), were a simulation that omitted the most serious issues: illegal fishing on the high seas, and especially that which takes place in the Malvina Islands .

Lerena argues that the use of the technical term "IUU" is an attempt to "whitewash" the real problem, diminishing its importance. For him, unreported and unregulated fishing is, in practice, illegal fishing and should be treated as such . He emphasizes that this activity not only depletes marine resources but is also linked to other crimes such as slave labor, money laundering, and drug trafficking.

Those responsible for the problem, in charge of the solution

The expert questions the idea that the campaigns are led by officials who have been responsible for inaction or have collaborated with the continued illegal fishing. Among them, he mentions:

Paola Di Chiaro : Secretary of the Malvinas Islands, accused of failing to report illegal fishing by foreign vessels in the Malvinas Islands and of supporting agreements that benefit the British.

Juan Antonio López Cazorla : Undersecretary of Fisheries, whom he describes as a "caste official" due to his long history of holding key positions without taking effective measures to combat the problem.

Javier Figueroa : Ambassador with responsibilities in the area, whom he accuses of inaction in past and current administrations regarding agreements that facilitate illegal fishing.

Lerena claims that these officials, instead of solving the problem, have contributed to it, and that their participation in the workshops is a mockery, a sign that "everything seems to change, so that nothing changes."

The Great Omission: Illegal Fishing in the Malvinas

Most seriously, Dr. Lerena believes, is that the sessions did not include illegal fishing in the Malvinas Islands, an Argentine territory seized by the United Kingdom . He points out that vessels of Spanish, Korean, Taiwanese, and other nationalities are fishing in Argentine waters with licenses illegally granted by British authorities on the islands.

The expert details, with compelling figures, that this illegal activity has generated billions of dollars over the past 35 years, with Spanish companies being the main beneficiaries. He also emphasizes that this fishing violates both Argentine laws and international treaties and conventions.

For Lerena , if the conference didn't address this central issue, it lost all credibility. His conclusion is that the conference wasn't a "national strategy" but rather an event without real value. "If we don't talk about illegal fishing in the Malvinas, we won't talk about illegal fishing in the Southwest Atlantic," he states, summarizing his view of an event that, rather than facing reality, evades it.

THE CRITICISM OF DR. CESAR LERENA

The Foreign Ministry and Fisheries Conferences ignore illegal fishing in the high seas and the Malvinas

We are informed by an article in Puerto Magazine (2/9/2025) that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Undersecretariat of Fisheries of the Nation during the days 3 to 5 September would present "the national strategy against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUU Fishing)" , organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through its Secretariat of the Malvinas, Antarctica and South Atlantic and the Undersecretariat of Aquatic Resources and Fisheries.

First of all, we are struck by several issues in this call to publicly present a strategy that should address issues related to illegal fishing and its biological, economic, social, criminal, tax, slave labor, evasion, money laundering, and drug trafficking implications, which are part of illegal fishing practices and which, if addressed, would be raised out loud, as if it were a secondary theoretical class, with the participation of some of the most important people responsible for the continuation of this practice and, without due reservation, due to the strategic and geopolitical importance of the Argentine maritime territory where illegal fishing takes place, in addition to the fact that the arrogant occupation by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland of 60% of the national maritime territory and the exploitation of fishing, oil, and tourism resources cannot be ignored.

The Conference presents illegal fishing as "whitewashed" when referring to the technical term "IUU" and downplays its seriousness. We have already explained in various articles that "unreported fishing" and "unrecorded fishing" should be considered equally illegal due to their effects on resource management, their sustainability, and the impact on the rights of quota and permit holders. Let's end this theoretical term: it is, plain and simple, illegal fishing . The same classification applies to those who fish migratory resources originating in the Argentine EEZ on the high seas, or vice versa, when there is no on-site control on foreign-flagged vessels; Maximum Sustainable Catches are not determined on the high seas; or when the interests of third-party States are affected.

Access to high-seas fishing is free, but it cannot be predatory, as clearly established in the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.            

Illegal fishing. “ Illegal Fishing is understood to be that in which fishing species are caught without complying, totally or partially, with international or national regulations of origin and/or without authorized official or independent control and/or if they are caught without control by the Flag State or with vessels that, despite using third-party flags, are subject to the regulations of their countries of origin and/or in maritime spaces where the maximum sustainable catch has not been previously determined and/or damaging the interests of third-party States by carrying out fishing operations without prior agreement with the coastal States on those species that interact or are associated with or are migratory originating in the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) or migrate from the high seas to the EEZ; or, in this particular case, from the Argentine EEZ to the waters of the Malvinas Islands or from these to the Argentine continental EEZ, where they carry out any act, of any nature, that threatens the sustainability of fishing species and/or contaminates the environment and/or threatens food security, the sources of work and the economy of the States, benefiting transnational organized crime and/or carrying out tax evasion due to non-payment of taxes, capture or export rights and/or not declaring the merchandise they import or export, evading customs taxes and/or with their actions affecting the reputation of the countries or communities to which they belong, contributing to breaking the legal regulations that ensure good fishing practices agreed upon to ensure sustainable, biologically sustainable and commercially equitable business operations” ( Lerena, César “ Illegal fishing and plundering of the fishing resources of Latin America and the Caribbean”, 2022 ).

Those responsible for illegal fishing. We also see that several of those responsible for illegal fishing in the South Atlantic and the Malvinas are those who will "analyze political aspects" regarding the adjacent area and the importance of fishing resources. These are the Secretary of the Malvinas, Paola Di Chiaro; the Undersecretary of Fisheries, Juan Antonio López Cazorla; and Ambassador Javier Esteban Figueroa .

The aforementioned Di Chiaro never referred to the extraction of fishing resources in the Malvinas Islands by illegally licensed foreign vessels and has supported the policies of this government and of the president, who has assigned rights to the British islanders. She also supported the Mondino-Lammy Pact , which reissues the Foradori-Duncan Pact and, among other things, facilitates illegal British fishing and flights to São Paulo, which would contribute to the commercialization of fishery products appropriated in Argentine waters around the Malvinas Islands. She also responds to the well-known "gray monk" of Macri in the Foreign Ministry, responsible for foreign policy regarding the Malvinas Islands during the governments of Macri, Fernández, and Milei.

The aforementioned López Cazorla, in addition to being a "qualified caste official," served as a member of the Federal Fisheries Council for 50% of the years since its creation in 1998, during which time he never took any action aimed at eradicating illegal fishing; an inaction that has followed him since his appointment as Undersecretary of Fisheries. López Cazorla silently supported the foreignization of the Argentine sea proposed by Federico Sturzenegger , which would have formalized illegal fishing in the Exclusive Economic Zone by Chinese, Spanish, British, Taiwanese, and Korean vessels, among others.

His policies contribute to illegal fishing, and he fails to fulfill his duties as a public official by failing to initiate legal action against vessels fishing illegally in the Malvinas, the EEZ, on the high seas, and on the continental shelf. He also failed to take legal action against the vessels fishing illegally in the Malvinas, the EEZ, the high seas, and the continental shelf. He also failed to take legal action against the aforementioned Di Chiario regarding the Malvinas and the 1,639,900 square kilometers of Argentine waters seized by the British.  

Ambassador Javier Figueroa has equal responsibilities as former Director of the Malvinas Islands at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in his capacity as a member of the Federal Fisheries Council . I have two official emails from the then Minister, who in 2015 went on his knees to avoid jeopardizing his nomination for ambassador. During his tenure at the Foreign Ministry and in the United Kingdom, the Madrid Agreements and all other agreements with Great Britain that facilitate illegal fishing in the Malvinas Islands remained in force.

The participation of renowned experts on illegal fishing and marine environmental protection has been omitted, as has the authoritative opinion of business leaders and trade associations, who are both directly involved in and affected by illegal fishing.

Some INIDEP researchers are participating, but the other presenters lack specific knowledge of the subject, and certainly lack knowledge of the other extremely serious and criminal issues associated with illegal fishing. The exception—surely—will be the experience of Chile and Peru.

Incidentally, there is no reference to the role of environmental NGOs in illegal fishing. This is especially true of the North American Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which has a zoo in New York where it exhibits captive wild animals—and charges for it—and owns the Sebaldes Islands (Jason Islands to the British) in the Malvinas archipelago. The Argentine delegation of WCS has limited itself to demanding the protection of whales, turtles, and birds, but has never made any mention of the 250,000 tons of Argentine fishing resources extracted annually by foreign vessels with illegal licenses from the islanders in the Malvinas. Incidentally, it is also the manager of the "Blue Hole" MPA, which allegedly favors British interests.

One should ask what the Naval Prefecture and the Undersecretariat of Fisheries are doing to prevent discarding at sea (which is prohibited and also constitutes illegal fishing) and which, according to the FAO, the AGN, and the INIDEP, accounts for 30% of catches.  

And the Malvinas National Council won't comment on the strategy to be implemented in the South Atlantic?

The astonishing omission from the Malvinas Islands Illegal Fishing Days

We are astonished to note that the conference's agenda does not address illegal fishing in the Malvinas Islands, nor in the Argentine EEZ, nor bottom trawling on the Argentine continental shelf beyond 200 miles.  

The presence of Galician vessels (and those of other nationalities) fishing in the Malvinas Islands is unacceptable, and there is not a single mention of this at the Conference.

Argentina became independent from Spain on July 9, 1816, and the Kingdom of Spain recognized this independence in the Treaty of Recognition, Peace and Friendship between the Kingdom of Spain and the Argentine Confederation of September 21, 1863, ratified in Madrid on November 29, 1863 and in Buenos Aires on December 12, 1863 , and with it, Argentina's ownership of all the territories that belonged to Spain until 1816, including the Malvinas Archipelago and its corresponding waters ( Principle of uti possidetis iuris "as you possess, So you must possess" that establishes that new States inherit the borders and territories of previous colonial entities ).

Furthermore, the Kingdom of Spain and its government explicitly recognized Argentine sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands and their corresponding waters when the European Economic Community signed the Fisheries Agreement between the Argentine Republic and the European Economic Community (EEC) to allow fishing in Argentine waters, subject to the regulations and conditions established in the agreement and in compliance with Argentine laws ( National Law No. 24,315 of 5/6/1994) and all United Nations resolutions.

According to official statistics from the Malvina Islands Government, out of a total of 201 licenses issued in 2024 to fishing vessels by the illegal government in the Malvinas Islands, 37 were to Spanish-flagged vessels and 58 to Malvina-flagged vessels (associated with Spanish companies), with the remaining licenses being granted to South Korea (28); Taiwan (76) and Vanuatu (2).

From 1989 (the year of the Madrid I Agreement) to 2024 (35 years), a total of 8,846,332 tonnes were caught, that is, an average of 252,752 tonnes/year for an average value of US$3,000 per tonne FOB and a total annual value of US$758,256,000; which in 35 years of exploitation meant a gross total of US$26,538,960,000; a figure that could triple to fivefold in final marketing value. According to statistical data, of the total 261,818 tonnes caught in 2024, Spanish vessels caught 49,531 tonnes and Malvina Islands-flagged vessels (associated with Spanish vessels) caught 73,692 tonnes, making a total of 123,223 tonnes, or 47% of the total catch.

This means that the extraction of fishery products from the waters of the Malvinas Islands could be valued at an FOB value of US$369,669,000 in 2024 and an estimated total FOB value of US$12,938,415,000 over the next 35 years.

Additionally, and very importantly, it is also observed that Spanish banks and Spanish and European government agencies finance and provide aid to the fishing activities of Galician companies. The Spanish State and the European Council are not verifying these companies' failure to comply with international, European Union, and Argentine standards, especially those relating to illegal fishing; protection of the marine environment; the depletion of natural fishing resources; consumer protection; illegal trafficking, evasion, and smuggling, etc. Third-generation environmental damage has not been considered.

Violation of applicable law (in general)

The United Kingdom and foreign vessels fishing in the Malvinas violate UN Resolution 31/49 and Law 24.922 and amendments and would violate the following international standards (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea; United Nations (UN) Resolutions; the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU); the Treaty between the European Union and the United Kingdom (Brexit); the Resolutions of the World Trade Organization (WTO); the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); the FAO-WHO Codex Alimentarius; the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO); the Resolutions of the International Maritime Organization (IMO); the UN Agreement on the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks; the FAO-UN Agreement on Port State Measures; the International Covenants on Economic, Social, Cultural, and Civil and Political Rights; etc. The laws of the Kingdom of Spain and the fishing, environmental, and customs laws of the Argentine Republic, as well as the Regulations of the Council of the European Union on fishing, customs, taxation, origin, consumer protection, and health matters.

If we don't talk about illegal fishing in the Malvinas Islands at this conference, we won't talk about illegal fishing in the Southwest Atlantic.

If we don't talk about illegal fishing on the high seas, on the Argentine continental shelf, or in the Exclusive Economic Zone, we won't talk about illegal fishing either.

Everything will be limited to a final certificate of attendance signed by the aforementioned officials, which won't even be worth filing. No strategy. Let everything appear to be changing, so that nothing changes. 

When the scam is huge, it takes a decent name (Abelardo López de Ayala)

Dr. César Augusto Lerena

Expert in South Atlantic and Fisheries

President of the Agustina Lerena Foundation

President of the Center for Latin American Fisheries Studies

www.cesarlerena.com.ar