MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chinese jigger arrested for illegal fishing

Warning shots were fired during an 11 hour pursuit which ended with the arrest of the Chinese-flagged vessel Fu-Yuan 3, which was fishing without a permit in San Jorge Gulf, Santa Cruz province.

The coastguard (PNA) vessel Guadacostas 27 was carrying out a routine patrol in the country's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) when it spotted the fishing vessel, with its gear spread out, to the west of the 200 nautical mile line early on Saturday morning (4 January).

The PNA ordered the captain to stop and also fired warning shots to other vessels that were covering the Chinese vessel's escape. The ensuing 11-hour pursuit culminated in the jigger's arrest with 50,000 kilos of fresh squid onboard, ready to be processed.

"In most cases, when a vessel is discovered fishing in jurisdictional waters, it chooses to escape towards the open sea and ignore the coastguard's warnings," Ricardo Fortini, captain of the Guadacostas 27, told to the local press

But he said episodes such as the Fu-Yuan 3 chase don't happen very often.

"It was a very stressful and tense moment as we detected the vessel fishing illegally at three o'clock in the morning and it took until two o'clock in the afternoon for the captain to stop and sail back towards an Argentine port."

During this time the coastguard had to fire not only at the jigger but also at three vessels that "were approaching in a threatening manner."

"Squid migrates to open waters around this time, that is why there are so many fishing vessels hanging around the border of Argentine jurisdictional waters," he said.

The Chinese jigger was escorted to Puerto Madryn, where legal action will be taken. The ship is 55.82 metres long and carried 25 crewmembers onboard, all of them Chinese nationals.

Under the National Fishery Law, the fleet owner will be fined and must surrender all illegal catches, while the captain may stand trial in Comodoro Rivadavia for resisting arrest.

Once they have testified, the court will probably order the fishermen to return to their country of origin and only the captain will remain under arrest. But, to ensure the law is applied effectively, the circumstances of each crewmember will be investigated.

Source: FIS/MP