South American governments are trying to curb illegal fishing

The Chinese fishing fleet has the worst reputation for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing globally. It is notorious in South America. Nearly a third of its 3,000 ships operate in the region all year. Chasing migratory squid, they spend the first six months plundering the Atlantic waters off Argentina and the next six hoovering their Pacific catch near Ecuador and Peru, having gone around Chile’s Strait of Magellan. The fleet is currently off Ecuador’s coast. But some countries are fighting back. On September 30th Ecuador, Peru, the United States and 11 other countries concluded their latest exercise against IUU fishing, to practise intercepting ships.