The most important article you'll read today about Latin America should be the one by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists on the overfishing of mackerel off the coasts of Chile and Peru and into the Antarctic.
Every expert quoted in the article says that the rate of fishing is unsustainable, leading to a potential collapse of fish stocks. Just between 2006 and 2011, mackerel stocks declined 63%. Continued decline would have direct consequences on the economies along the Pacific coast of South America as well as food security for the hemisphere and for Africa.
It's a major collective action problem in that no country wants to unilaterally stop fishing, knowing that other countries would simply pick up the slack. Fixing this requires regional (great issue for UNASUR or the OAS) as well as global multilateral coordination. Even if they coordinated, protecting the fish stocks would require enforcement of those regulations.
It's an issue that pits the environment against economic development and basic politics. Though the recommendation is for a five year ban on mackerel fishing, neither Chile nor Peru want to face the economic blow that would come from that. Pressure by individual fishers and large fishing corporations makes it much harder to politicians to act. Corporations in Chile have manipulated the scientific evidence to get the quotas increased. European and Asian governments subsidize their fishing industries, causing them to be overly large, even for the market.
It's a corruption problem. The reporters investigating this issue found that many ships under-report their catch in Peru. Ships don't adhere to quality standards, bringing in their catch in a way that wastes a significant amount of potential food. European ships flag their vessels from smaller and unregulated countries (Vanuatu for one) to dodge EU regulations on overfishing.
The potential collapse of fish stocks is a threat to Latin America in the coming decades. It's an issue that touches on stability, economics, politics, corruption and multilateralism. Go read this entire article.
