ARGENTINA

Trouble seems to
be brewing yet again between
Argentina and UK. The
thorny issue this time
involves fishing in the waters
around South Georgia, some
1,287 km south-east of the
disputed Falkland islands.
An Argentine vessel had to
reportedly pay a license fee to
the 'British authorities to fish
for toothfish, a south
AItlantic delicacy in Europe
and Japan, in the South
Atlantic waters recently.
Argentina does not recognise
the British right to collect
licence fees in disputed
waters. Said a spokesperson
for the foreign office, "We
deplore the British attitude,
which is not compatible with
dialogue and which threatens the continuation of talks
about a fishing agreement in
Falklands waters".

In defence, British officials say that the existence of
a licensing regime has continued since 1993 as part of
the Convention of Antarctic
Marine Living Resources and
was instituted mainly to conserve marine species, and the
proceeds go towards conservation. However, Argentina
new demands that the South
Georgian incident be sorted
out and also a South Atlantic
fishing policy be framed.