Marine conservation experts are warning that recent proposals from Chinese fishing authorities for the “sustainable management of squid fishing” in the South Atlantic have no practical effect.
At the “International Symposium on Squid Conservation and Management,” held in July 2025 at Shanghai Ocean University, an official from the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture’s Fisheries Bureau stated that China maintained a “zero tolerance” policy for illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The conference, as reported by the Fish Information and Services (FIS) platform, focused heavily on China’s voluntary high-seas fishing moratorium measures.
Marine conservation experts question the practical efficacy of these announcements, pointing out that previous fishing closures were implemented in areas and season where no squid activity occurs. “It’s like banning fishing on the moon,” Milko Schvartzman, an IUU fishing specialist and member of the Argentine nongovernmental organization (NGO) Círculo de Políticas Ambientales (Environmental Policy Circle), told Diálogo.
“China is very deliberately working to promote support for its unregulated fishing fleet in the South Atlantic through relationships with provincial governments and promises of investment, employment, and economic recovery in the coastal regions of these countries, which have not materialized,” Schvartzman said.
“These are some of the ways China is trying to reduce opposition from country representatives. In general, there is widespread opposition [to the Chinese fleet] among local communities, and even more so among fishermen, who are the first to suffer the consequences of overfishing,” the expert added.
Fictitious moratoriums
Experts contend that China’s proposals to curb squid overfishing in recent years have been purely cosmetic. In 2023, for example, the Chinese government announced restrictions on heavy fished squid species, including Humboldt squid (giant squid) in the Pacific and shortfin squid (iliaex argentinus) in the Atlantic.
Oceana, a Washington-based non-profit environmental NGO, described China’s self-imposed bans on its squid fleet as “a public relations stunt that does nothing to address overfishing.” An analysis by the NGO found that these annual bans consistently avoid areas where Chinese vessels actually fish.
In fact, Schvartzman explained, the 2023 fishing closures proposed by the Chinese government were intentionally designed to have no impact. “The fishing closures coincided with seasons when there is no fishing in the Pacific and Atlantic, so the measure did not bring about any change,” Schvartzman said.
He noted that the restrictive zoning stipulated by Chinese authorities were areas north of actual fishing zones — rendering the closures ineffective.
“It was a fictitious announcement,” Schvartzman said. “They had restricted fishing to areas where they do not fish, and during seasons where there is no fishing. Therefore, it did not bring about any change. I studied it and published it with maps and satellite images of the fleets.”
Deception, exploitation, and IUU tactics
“Lack of transparency is a constant feature of the Chinese fishing fleet dedicated to squid fishing in South American waters,” says non-profit journalism organization Mongabay. “Ships turning off their satellite systems, transferring their catch to other ships without notice, or duplicating their identity are some of the strategies they use to hide and commit illegal acts without being discovered.”
Artisonal, a civil society organization dedicated to monitoring fishing fleets, documented another strategy: the use of the Chinese fishing vessel Zhe Pu Yuan 98 as a makeshift floating hospital to care for sick crew members and evade controls.
Artisonal monitored the vessel between 2021 and 2024 in the Southeast Pacific and found that the vessel provided medical care to injured and sick crew members from other fishing vessels. The vessel only entered Peruvian ports when crew members were in critical condition or required urgent treatment, including one incident where a dead crew member was disembarked at the Port of Callao.
“Why does the distant-water squid fleet choose to have a floating hospital instead of taking its injured or sick crew members to a Peruvian port? The answer lies in its voracious ambition to continue fishing for squid at all costs, which unfortunately puts the safety and well-being of the crew at risk”, Artisonal said in its report.
Predatory fleet
According to Shvartzman, a fleet of approximately 400 Chinese vessels operates seasonally across the South Atlantic. This fleet, composed of over 300 squid jigging vessels and nearly 100 trawlers, follows a distinct year-round route.
During the Southern Hemisphere’s summer and autumn, the fleet primarily operates just outside the outer edge of Argentina’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), targeting the Illex argentinus squid. As the season changes, the fleet shifts its presence north toward the EEZs of Brazil and Uruguay, and then transitions to the South Pacific to target Humboldt squid, operating near the Galapagos and the EEZs of Chile and Peru.
The Chinese fleet’s activity extends beyond uncontrolled squid fishing; it also includes the intentional catch of other animals such as sea lions and penguins, documented in recent video footage released by the London-based NGO Environmental Justice Foundation.
Furthermore, the Environmental Policy Circle previously released a 2021 video showing the Chinese trawler Lu Qing Yuan Yu 206 capturing an endangered sea elephant. The same vessel unloaded three dead crew members in Montevideo between 2017 and 2021, according to Argentina’s TN channel.
“In addition to this illegal fishing, there is the amount of oil, waste, and garbage that this Chinese fleet generates without any control. These are vessels that sometimes go more than a year without going to port,” Schvartzman said.
The failure of the recent symposium to produce meaningful, enforceable regulations confirms the core challenge facing South American maritime security: a global fishing superpower operating with impunity and relying on cosmetic policy proposals. Despite China’s claims of “zero tolerance” for illegal fishing, expert testimony and documented evidence confirm a persistent pattern of deception, environmental predation, and disregard for crew welfare.
The future health of the South Atlantic’s vital marine resources, therefore, remains dependent not on voluntary bans, but on rigorous, external scrutiny from regional governments and international watchdogs.
