A large fleet of Asian fishing vessels, primarily from China, is overfishing squid in unregulated international waters off the coast of Argentina, according to the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF).
The NGO mentioned in its latest report that around 343 vessels were operating just outside Argentina's 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. This intensive, unregulated fishing threatens the squid population, a key food source for many marine animals.
Jesús Uríos, an ocean policy expert with the EJF, noted that because there are no fishing quotas in these international waters, it's difficult to assess the full impact of overfishing, but he warned of a potential collapse of the species.
He pointed out that "every year, around 343 Asian-flagged jigging vessels, mainly Chinese, but also from South Korea and Taiwan," operated in the area. "The increase in demand for squid has caught our attention," says Urios. This species "is clearly threatened" by this intensive Asian fishing, he denounced.
The document also mentioned severe labor abuses on these ships, with 169 testimonies from workers -- mostly Indonesian -- describing physical violence, denial of medical care, and excessive working hours. Urios spoke about "modern slavery."
"We are talking about physical abuse, physical violence such as beatings, punches, threats, intimidation. We also have things like denial of medical assistance. There have been up to five deaths on board four Chinese vessels during the study period, often due to negligence. And also excessive working hours, more than 14 hours a day, sometimes 18," he explained.
Unlike squid fishing quotas in Argentine national waters, where the number of fishing vessels is limited to between 70 and 75, fishing for this species in international waters outside the 200 nautical mile zone is completely unregulated.
"The problem is that we don't know to what extent, in the sense that since we don't have information on what is being fished outside [Argentina's exclusive economic zone], it is very difficult to know how much of the squid population is being removed each year," Uríos warned.
"With excessive overfishing, we could be seeing a collapse of the species. In fact, in 2016, they thought squid was finished. There was a very low squid population, and it has not recovered since then," he told Radio France Internationale.