An alarming situation due to lack of fishing transparency has been exposed by the organizations No Blue No Green and Circle of Environmental Policies with the release of their report “Access to public information: background on vessel records and fishing permits“.
This report reveals that Argentina ranks last among the countries in the region with an industrial fishing fleet regarding the accessibility and visibility of fishing vessel data.
The relevance of this information is crucial: it is essential to assess whether the fishing fleet operators are acting within the legal framework and in a sustainable manner.
The report, which meticulously reveals and compares over a dozen records from Latin American and European countries, establishes a transparency index. In this index, Argentina sadly ranks last, with a score of zero.
This picture strongly contrasts with the reality of most countries in the Latin American region that have significant industrial fishing fleets.
The country ranks last in fishing transparency
These countries, unlike Argentina, already have some type of fishing registry with published and updated lists, providing access to essential data about companies, vessels, licenses, and permits.
While countries like Peru, Chile, Brazil, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Mexico have implemented digital platforms for citizens to access key information, in Argentina, despite having an internal registry, this information is not made public.
Consuelo Bilbao, Director of the Circle of Environmental Policies, emphasized the importance of an online registry of fishing vessels with detailed information: “to know if a vessel is authorized to fish in a certain area and at a certain time; if it has permission to fish certain species or to use certain fishing gear; if it has a fishing quota and has not exceeded it; also, what its history has been in operations and whether the right of access to a fishing ground should be granted.”
The importance of transparency in information
Within the framework of the campaign “Open Sea. Promoting fishing transparency,” No Blue No Green and Circle of Environmental Policies raise their demand: the publication of data in a digital, online, and updated format of fishing vessels and permits.
Juan Coustet, Research Coordinator at No Blue No Green, stated: “In a context of growing global demand for traceability, legality, and sustainability in the exploitation of marine resources, Argentina is lagging behind, not even offering basic data.
This situation is not a technical issue, but a political one. The information exists: the Undersecretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture gathers it for internal management. What is lacking is the will to make it available to citizens, the sector, and control agencies.”
Source: No Blue No Green and Circle of Environmental Policies
