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Argentine Coast Guard arrests two Chinese jiggers off Puerto Madryn

Thursday, December 27th 2012 - 02:24 UTC
Full article 13 comments
The Mantilla Class Coast Guard CG 24 Thompson was involved in the operation The Mantilla Class Coast Guard CG 24 Thompson was involved in the operation

The Argentine Coast Guard arrested on Christmas after fining some intimidatory shots, two Chinese flagged jiggers illegally fishing in Argentina’s South Atlantic Economic Exclusive Zone off the Chubut province coast, according to an official report released Wednesday.

Jiggers Lu RONG YU 6177 and Lu RONG YU 6178, originally from the port of Shidao, China, were caught red-handed approximately 400 kilometres from Puerto Madryn by the Coast Guard vessel “Thompson” which tried several times to establish radio contact with them and according to international protocol.

However the jiggers insisted in not answering and it became clear they intended to flee from the Argentine EEZ to avoid being arrested. GC 26 Thompson started to chase them and fired intimidatory shots, which finally convinced the jiggers to halt.

A boarding party visited both vessels and discovered that LuRongYu6178 had seven tons of frozen squid while the sister vessel LuRongYu6177 .

 The vessels are being escorted to the port of Comodoro Rivadavia where they will be informed by the federal court of the crimes committed and the fines to which they are exposed.

LuRongYu6177 is 41 metres long, 7.60 wide and has a crew of 19, while her sister, LuRongYu6178 has a crew of 17. Both had left China on 23 October 2012
 

Categories: Fisheries, Argentina.

Top Comments

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  • lsolde

    l thought that China was one of your “good friends”?
    Friends look out for each other, they're not supposed to steal from each other or fire shots at each other. lol
    Off the coast of Chubut, you say? mmmmmmmmmmmm
    Maybe the Chinese were trying to kidnap señor Think!

    Dec 27th, 2012 - 09:21 am 0
  • Lord Horatio

    If these vessels were 400 Km from the Argentine coast, they were outside the territorial waters. Beijing will not be happy with the Mad Bitch for arresting two of their fishing vessels and Buenos Aires can expect to have their ambassador given a dressing down for this.

    I doubt that Argentina will get any further support from China over the Falkland Islands now. Who knows, maybe next time it will be China seeking a set of exploration licenses from the FIG to look for oil.

    Like all bullies Argentina picked on the wrong person to annoy and there will be a reckoning for this.

    Dec 27th, 2012 - 10:16 am 0
  • Joe Bloggs

    2

    Read the story again. It didn't say 400km off the coast.

    Dec 27th, 2012 - 10:47 am 0
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