MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Agreement would allow Chinese jiggers to operate from Argentine ports

Norberto Yahuar, Argentina’s Fisheries Under Secretary currently in China

Norberto Yahuar, Argentina’s Fisheries Under Secretary is currently in China to advance on a fisheries cooperation agreement which would open Argentine ports to Chinese trawlers and jiggers while Beijing would lower tariffs to Argentine produce.

”The meetings scheduled are at government-to-government level. We are looking for a tariff reduction for our products exported to the Chinese market”, said Yahuar who is also planning to visit shipyards, fish processing plants and fishmeal producers.

In exchange Chinese fishing vessels operating outside the 200 mile zone targeting squid (Illex argentinus) would be able to unload catches in Argentine ports and take supplies and fuel.

With the future agreement with China we are attempting “to keep our ports active, to generate work for longshoremen who are having serious problems because of lesser volumes of cargo. Basically we want normal activity the year around”, said Yahuar.

However Yahuar was quite clear about vessels operating in Argentine ports: under no circumstance can they, or their companies, have fishing licences from the Falklands/Malvinas.

”We are not going to allow the entry of vessels that operate in the Falklands; we are going to be very strict about this. The Chinese squid jigger fleet has not had Falklands’ licences for a very long time, so that’s how we came up with the cooperation agreement” he emphasized.

Yahuar said that “we have been, and we are going to continue to be very rigorous with those who mock our sovereignty; six months ago we fined a Korean squid jigger 6 million US dollars for operating in the Falklands and pretending to have the vessel repaired in Mar del Plata” revealed the Argentine fisheries chief.

He added that “Argentina is not going to extend any new fishing permits; the only fleet to catch in our waters is the Argentine flagged fleet”. To ensure that this is effective “we are coordinating and increasing the number of high seas boarding with the Coast Guard; we are appointing observers in almost all vessels and installing a video camera system in live real time”. (FIS/MP).-