MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine arrests Uruguayan jigger poaching

A Uruguayan flagged jigger, “Young HWA 99” was caught last Sunday by the Argentine Coast Guard fishing in the South Atlantic with its licence expired.

The jigger was carrying twenty tons of squid when she was surprised fifty miles from the port of Quenquen and 300 miles south of the city of Buenos Aires.

According to the Argentine Coast Guard the 46 meters long jigger has a crew of 28, half of them Uruguayans, the other half Asian.

Following the detection, "we ordered the vessel to stop and personnel from "Azopardo" completed the inspection, confirming the existence of the (squid) cargo and the expired fishing licence", said Carlos Fernández, commander of the Argentine Coast Guard.

"Young HWA 99" was escorted to Mar del Plata where the case was analyzed by Argentina's Minister of Interior and Justice Gustavo Beliz.

"The documents of the vessel are not for fishing but rather for prospecting operations", said Mr. Beliz

The vessel remains arrested and its haul has been confiscated.

The fact that the Argentine Minister of Interior and Justice was personally involved in the fisheries incident was interpreted in Montevideo as new evidence of the current "difficult relations" between the two neighbouring countries.