United States revokes visa of former Argentine official over role in illegal Patagonian toothfish case
The communiqué specified that the sanctions against Ferrara relate to corrupt activities that facilitated illegal fishing and undermined fair market access for US fishers
The US Department of State on Wednesday revoked the visa of former Argentine official Pablo Ferrara Raisberg, former Foreign Ministry representative on the Federal Fisheries Council, over his alleged involvement in an illegal Patagonian toothfish episode that prompted his resignation in 2024. The measure is part of a new policy by the government of Donald Trump under which Washington has restricted the issuance of visas to 24 individuals linked to illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in exclusive zones, and also includes Mexican national José Ali Amado.
Those who illegally deplete the fisheries resources available to the United States and the world are not welcome in our country, said Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau when announcing the decision, which he framed as a global priority of the US administration to protect the abundance of the world’s oceans. The communiqué specified that the sanctions against Ferrara relate to corrupt activities that facilitated illegal fishing and undermined fair market access for US fishers.
The case dates back to 2024 and involves the fishing vessel Tai An, an Argentine-flagged ship based in Tierra del Fuego and owned by Chinese businessman Liu Zhijiang. The vessel was detected operating in a zone closed to the capture of Patagonian toothfish, a species subject in the Argentine Sea to a quota regime in force for fifteen years. The ship held no additional authorized quota and was intercepted carrying 163 tons of the species, an exceptional volume with an estimated market value of close to USD 5 million. The Argentine Naval Prefecture ordered its immediate return to port.
According to accounts that emerged at the time, Ferrara intervened with a call described as forceful and intimidating in tone to question the procedure and order the ship not to return, according to sources with direct knowledge of the case. The intervention eventually resulted in an order from Undersecretary of Fisheries Juan Antonio López Cazorla allowing the vessel to remain outside the closed zone. Ferrara submitted his resignation shortly afterward, accepted by then-Foreign Minister Diana Mondino, and the episode also led to the departure of the former Director of Fisheries Control and Oversight, Julián Suárez.
Patagonian toothfish, known internationally as Chilean sea bass, fetches prices of up to USD 30,000 per ton in major markets in the United States, Asia, and Europe. The annual authorized quota in the Argentine Sea is 3,700 tons. The US decision comes amid growing international concern over the sustainability of South Atlantic fisheries, a region where the Chinese-flagged fleet has historically been singled out by marine conservation organizations for poaching operations in waters near the exclusive economic zones of Argentina, Uruguay, and other South American countries.