The recent unanimous approval in the Chamber of Deputies of the Law of Accession to the Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA) was presented to the public as a victory for sustainability and maritime control. However, behind the guise of multilateral environmentalism promoted by the FAO since 2009, Argentina has just validated a legal instrument that entails a direct and profound risk to its imprescriptible claim of sovereignty over the Malvina Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and the surrounding maritime areas.

The trap of "global governance": the end of sovereignty reservation

The most alarming aspect of the multilateral agreement lies in its legal structure: the AMERP expressly prohibits the formulation of reservations .

In its historical diplomatic practice, Argentina has ratified international treaties explicitly establishing territorial safeguards. These clauses guarantee that the application of the treaty does not, under any circumstances, imply recognition of the British occupation or the administrative acts of the colonial government in the archipelagos.

By adhering to a treaty without the right of reservation, Argentina relinquishes a fundamental safeguard. The pretext of combating Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing operates here as a Trojan horse : a global commitment is adopted at the expense of leaving the legal front in the South Atlantic unprotected.

From Flag State to Port State: A Dangerous Concession

The AMERP breaks with a long-standing principle of international maritime law: the authority of the flag state (the country under whose flag the ship sails). Instead, the agreement transfers regulatory and enforcement powers to the port state .

This disruption opens up a scenario of extreme geopolitical gravity:

The agreement forces national authorities to act as administrative successors of the occupying regime in the Malvinas, changing territorial sovereignty into a secondary role of port police .

Sustainability without sovereignty is environmental colonialism

No one denies the biological devastation wrought by foreign fleets at mile 199, 200, or 201, nor the urgent need to protect the South Atlantic's biomass. However, framing the solution within international treaties that ignore the sovereignty dispute is not progress: it is a technical capitulation .

The United Kingdom has historically used the conservation agenda—from declaring illegitimate marine protected areas to selling fishing licenses in disputed waters—to consolidate its presence in the South Atlantic. The AMERP provides the island regime with an international umbrella to validate its inspections and controls under the FAO banner.

An irresponsible unanimity

It is incomprehensible that the Chamber of Deputies unanimously voted for an instrument that contradicts the doctrine of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the express warnings of members of the Nation's Foreign Service.

The nation's fisheries and environmental policy cannot be designed outside the framework of the First Transitory Clause of the National Constitution . The fight against illegal fishing must be waged through strengthened maritime patrols, a strong state presence in the EEZ, and firm bilateral diplomacy; not through the blind signing of multilateral agreements that surrender shreds of sovereignty in exchange for applause in international forums.