It is not the political measures or the strategies of the Argentine Foreign Ministry that are putting the economy of the British colony that usurps the Malvinas Islands in jeopardy; but the low quantity of squid that reaches the islands, a product of the overexploitation of an exclusively Argentine resource by the Chinese and other fleets.
The situation, which has been repeated for the second consecutive year, has set off alarm bells for the British usurpers, to the point that they have decided to close the fishing season for this maritime resource, which is so precious in the European and Asian markets and which is crucial for the local economy and accounts for 50% to 60% of the islands' tax revenues.
The decision was made on Saturday, after 20 days of exploration in which it was found that the quantity and quality of squid arriving on the islands is much lower than expected.
Squid is a migratory species that travels along the Patagonian coast and begins to mature on the Atlantic coast of the province of Chubut until it reaches the Malvinas Islands. A maritime sector of the South Atlantic exploited by the fleet that fishes with an Argentine license within the 200-mile zone, which is overexploited without any control by Chinese, Taiwanese, Spanish and Korean fishing vessels beyond the 200-mile zone, and which is fished in waters surrounding the Malvinas Islands with an illegal license from the British colony that usurps them; by Spaniards, South Koreans and Taiwanese.
This is not a new development, as the second season of 2023 was also forced to be interrupted due to the very low initial catches recorded. This situation meant that, of the 45,000 tonnes that the Spanish fleet declared in the 2022 winter season, in the same period of 2023 the catch was reduced to less than 15,000 tonnes.
So far this year, squid fishing during the southern summer in Malvinas waters has involved 88 Taiwanese and South Korean flagged squid jiggers and 17 Spanish trawlers. They have netted a haul of over 200,000 tonnes. Some 142,680 tonnes for the former, and another 59,000 for the latter.
There is no doubt that, in the face of these circumstances, Great Britain will try to push Argentina to create RFMOs . Some variety of regional fisheries management bodies, such as those signed in July by Foreign Minister Diana Mondino at the United Nations - and which must be endorsed or rejected by Congress - but which carry dangerous consequences for the maintenance of Argentina's legitimate sovereign rights.
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