- The creation of the Blue Hole marine reserve in the South Atlantic would protect thousands of square kilometers of seabed from bottom trawling and demand better working conditions for the vessels fishing there. But the corresponding draft law has been stuck in the Argentine parliament for years and expires in November.
- The marine protected area would cover 148,000 square kilometers of the Argentine continental shelf, where global fishing fleets engage in unregulated fishing, including bottom trawling.
- The Blue Hole protected area would protect the seabed from bottom trawling, but would still allow fishing in the water column above.
- Ratification of a UN treaty could enable Argentina to protect the area from any form of fishing in the future.
With time running out for a parliamentary vote on a law that would protect a huge stretch of Argentina’s seabed, environmentalists are trying to raise awareness of the issue before major delays occur.
The creation of the “Blue Hole” protected area in the South Atlantic would protect thousands of square kilometers of seabed from bottom trawling and demand better working conditions for the vessels fishing there. But the bill has been stuck in the Argentine National Congress for years and expires in November.
“(This law) is the only instrument that exists today to begin protecting the area,” said Valeria Falabella, director of coastal and marine protection at the non-governmental organization Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Argentina. She added: “The fishing activity needs to be urgently managed and reviewed. There are not only environmental problems, but also human rights problems.”
The Blue Hole, or Agujero Azul in Spanish, is an area of the Argentine continental shelf off the Gulf of San Jorge in southern Patagonia. The shelf looks like an underwater cliff that marks the edge of the continent, where the deeper waters give it a dark blue hue. Deep-sea currents supply the area with nutrients that sustain an incredible biodiversity, from sponges and corals to southern right whales (Eubalaena australis).
This hotbed of marine life stretches 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) off the coast of Argentina on an imaginary line that separates the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), where it has exclusive fishing rights, from international waters. Just beyond this line, global fishing fleets scour the Blue Hole’s seabed for red shrimp (Pleoticus muelleri), pollock (Genypterus blacodes) and Black Hake (Dissostichus eleginoides), among other marine animals. They drag nets across the sea floor, stirring up sediment that provides shelter, food and breeding grounds for the species. And they persistently hunt squid in the waters above.
In 2019, Argentina officially extended its jurisdiction over the continental shelf to 650 km from the coast, allowing it to protect areas outside its EEZ. The Blue Hole Marine Protected Area would cover 148,000 km2 here – an area the size of Bangladesh. However, Argentina only controls the seafloor, not the water column outside its EEZ, so the Blue Hole Protected Area would only protect life on the seafloor, not in the water column above it.
Despite extending jurisdiction to the continental shelf, a bill to create the Blue Hole MPA failed to advance in Congress in 2019, losing its parliamentary status and forcing lawmakers to introduce a new version in 2022. The bill was passed by the House and sent to the Senate for a final vote, but is stuck there due to a backlog of other bills and disruptions to congressional sessions during the 2023 presidential election.
This year, Congress has devoted most of its time to a comprehensive reform package introduced by President Javier Milei, ignoring other pending bills. If lawmakers do not vote on the Blue Hole MPA before November 30, it will once again lose its parliamentary status and a new bill will have to be introduced, further delaying the vote on the creation of the MPA.
“It is necessary that this issue be prioritized on the parliamentary agenda, because that is not happening at the moment,” said Laura Lapalma, project coordinator for the Environment and Natural Resources Foundation (FARN), a conservation and human rights group in Argentina. “At the moment Argentina has many other problems and this one is not being treated as a priority.”
The Blue Hole marine reserve would begin at the outer limit of Argentina’s EEZ. Beyond this limit, in the open sea, anyone is free to fish. Fleets from countries such as China, Spain and South Korea have been active there for years.
Illegal activities are widespread in the area, Falabella said. International vessels often fish beyond the permitted limit, do not declare all catches and even turn off their tracking devices to ensure they remain undetected. There is also little control over how crew members are treated on board, leading to forced labor and other human rights violations.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mongabay reported that around 100 international vessels were fishing illegally in the area, in some cases entering waters intended only for Argentine vessels.
“Because there are no controls or regulations, there is no data or statistics that allow us to know the number of catches or how much fish is thrown back into the sea or what the accidental mortality rate is for birds or mammals,” said Falabella.
The Malvinas, Antarctic and South Atlantic Secretariat and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship supported the bill establishing the Blue Hole Marine Protected Area, believing that overfishing on the continental shelf could decimate populations of some species and, in the long term, destroy the fishing industry.
For them, regulation is a long-term investment.
“This project brings the issue of conservation much more to the table at Mile 201 in international waters, where the place where there is no law affects the biomass of the place where there is law,” Foreign Minister Felipe Solá said in a statement.
If the Argentine Congress does indeed create the Blue Hole protected area this year or at some point in the future, environmentalists will continue to fight for additional protections in the area. Their top priority is regulating the entire water column, not just the seabed. This could become a reality with the ratification of the UN High Seas Treaty, which would allow countries to strengthen protections in areas outside their national jurisdiction.
“It is a tremendous opportunity to include the entire water column of the Blue Hole and give it the comprehensive protection that is appropriate and necessary in this area,” Falabella said.
Banner image:Fishermen catch hake in Argentina. Photo by Martín Brunella.
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