"Penguins nesting in boxes": Peninsula Valdés, a heritage site awash in plastics

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Images of plastic waste on the coasts of Peninsula Valdes, a protected area in the province of Chubut that has one of the richest marine ecosystems in the world, sparked outrage in recent weeks in Argentina. According to government estimates, there are 40 tons of broken crates, buckets, gloves and nets from fishing activity in the area.

The sea of plastics has been accumulating for months in Punta Delgada, Estancia El Pedral, Cracker Bay, Punta Cormoranes and in the Tova and Tovita islands, which are part of the 887,000 marine and terrestrial hectares declared Natural Heritage of Humanity by Unesco (1999).

The news made the front pages of Argentine newspapers in April following complaints about delays in the cleanup. Finally, the removal began the last week of last month and will last until the end of May, as long as the fauna is not on the coast. The question now is to solve the root of the problem: why there is so much garbage from the fishing industry in the ocean.

The Valdés Peninsula is a nature sanctuary where penguins nest, the southern right whale breeds and is the habitat of elephants and sea lions, dolphins, orcas and countless birds. "I saw injured animals on top of the plastics and, in Tovita there are penguins that nest inside the boxes and you can also see some dead on the coast surrounded by garbage," says Yago Lange, former Argentine Olympic sailor, and ambassador of Parley of the Oceans, an international organization that works for the care of the oceans.

A pack of sea lions rests on one of the beaches of the Valdés Peninsula next to the plastic garbage that has accumulated. Marko Magister (Parley.tv)

Lange has long been warning about beaches polluted by waste from fishing boats, denouncing delays in removing waste and documenting the situation that he says has worsened in the past six months.

Provincial and national authorities and the fishing industry recognize the problem. The Deputy Minister of Environment, Sergio Federovisky, has assured that it is urgent to identify the authors of what he defined as a "criminal action against the environment" and punish those responsible. "We must understand what is the mechanics by which there is an activity that decides to externalize its costs brutally and avidly dirtying a natural resource as valuable as the coastal areas of the province of Chubut," said the official.

The undersecretary of Environmental Management of Chubut, Fernando Pegoraro, has admitted that in the last five years the amount of waste on the coasts has grown, but he also says that the reviews in the area are more exhaustive. The province of Chubut has 1,600 linear kilometers of coastline. Almost a third are inaccessible due to their geography of cliffs and cliffs, where waste accumulated dragged by winds and tides.

According to Pegoraro, in the area there are two places especially impacted by this situation. One of them is an area of three kilometers of beach where the authorities have calculated "about 100 cubic meters of garbage", while in seven kilometers of beach of two islands they have detected "another 100 cubic meters". One cubic meter is equivalent to 200 kilos, so, based on that estimate, it would be at least 40 tons of garbage. "The fishing industry is obviously responsible, but we cannot determine which boat or which company or whether it is national, provincial or international," the official said.

Aerial view of plastic garbage on one of the beaches of the Valdés Peninsula.Marko Magister (Parley.tv)

Looking for solutions to the problem

The crates that are used for fishing only carry the identification of the refrigeration company that delivers them for the collection of the fish, but they do not have an ID of the vessel that transports them. Therefore today it is impossible to know where they fall from or who throws them. The Patagonian Institute of Social and Human Sciences has been working since March on a diagnosis of this problem, and will offer the results in July.

Jorge Frías, secretary general of the Argentine Association of Fishing Captains, points out that the Navigation Law No. 20094 must be applied, which indicates that the captain is the guarantor that nothing falls into the sea. But that's not enough. "All materials should be marked with the data, colors or signs of the boat," he proposes. And, in addition, it suggests that the shipowner be jointly and severally liable for compliance.

In this regard, on May 9, a regulation was approved on the mandatory marking and identification of trawl fishing gear and the mandatory declaration of the number of caissons with which vessels set sail and arrive at port. For now, fishing vessels must have grampines and bugs on board to facilitate the recovery of caissons that fall into the sea.

Currently, the only regulation in force that helps mitigate the presence of plastics and microplastics in the sea is the one used to catch crab. From the fishing industry, they recognize the need for remediation, but defend their place as generators of foreign exchange and labor.

Frias, who has been sailing the Atlantic since 1985, when he was 17, says he has since seen remains of plastic crates and synthetic elements from fishing at sea and on the coasts. But he believes that, over time, sailors' attitudes have changed. "For many years we fishermen have not thrown plastics or waste," he says. Instead, he says, they keep them on board until they disembark.

A volunteer collects plastic garbage from one of the beaches of the Valdés Peninsula, in October 2022.Marko Magister (Parley.tv)

Another thing that has changed is the fishing fleet, which has multiplied, as well as the number of boxes to preserve fresh seafood. "More waste is clearly found because of the growth of the fishing industry in general and because there are more tools to give it viral visibility," says the trade unionist. In addition, Frias points to other responsible. According to him, plastic garbage also comes from cities.

The president of the Argentine Patagonian Chamber of Fishing Industries (Capip), Agustín de la Fuente, assures that the fishing industry also collaborates in the remediation. "We want to be part of the solution. The Atlantic is a rough sea, robust, with cold, where there are storms and the drawers can fall, there is no bad intention, "he says. "It is incoherent to think that the fishing worker is generating that impact of his own volition. Unfortunately it is happening, we have to find a solution."

Lucía Castro, director of Sin Azul No Hay Verde, an organization that defends marine biodiversity, believes that the fishing sector has little control and oversight. "It's an industry that always did what it wanted at sea," he stresses. The environmentalist acknowledges that there are factors out of control such as climatic conditions, but maintains that there is no justification for the mismanagement of waste at sea or in ports.

"There is the figure of the observer on board who has to get on the boats and check that everything that has to happen actually happens, but that does not happen. There are not enough inspectors, there is no control above the ships and in port either, "he says. On the contrary, the director of National Audit Julián Suárez ensures that control and inspection is carried out uninterruptedly.

But for Castro, behind the drawers, there is an invisible environmental problem: trawling that, like land clearing, devastates the seabed through nets that lift what they find in their path, forcing discarding. According to the industry's own calculations, 30% of what is caught is waste and thrown overboard.