Argentina's Joint Maritime Command (JMC) has denounced the presence of some 431 foreign boats near the country's South Atlantic territorial waters limit, it was reported. Around 80% of the vessels were said to be of Chinese origin.
Argentine Defense Minister Jorge Taiana announced the creation of the Joint Maritime Command, which will be in charge of the permanent patrolling and monitoring of the Argentine sea.
In a joint operation, the Argentine Navy and Coast Guard are monitoring and keeping track of an estimated 300 Chinese fishing vessels that are sailing from the Pacific to the South Atlantic across the Magellan Strait.
One of the US Coast Guard newest vessels docked in Montevideo early Monday looking for supplies and fuel, but given the strict sanitary isolation measures no member of the crew will be disembarking or anybody visiting the vessel.
The United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA, has taken the initiative in the fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing.
Four South American countries joined forces this week in a bid to combat illegal fishing by huge Chinese fleets off their coasts. Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru threatened measures “to prevent, discourage and jointly confront” illegal fishing near their exclusive economic zones in the Pacific.
US national security adviser said the US Coast Guard (USCG) was basing Enhanced Response Cutters in the western Pacific for maritime security missions, citing illegal fishing and harassment of vessels by China.
The Chilean government is keeping close tabs on a large fleet of Chinese fishing vessels that has stirred up controversy further north along the Pacific coast of South America, Foreign Minister Andres Allamand said.
Peru’s Navy was carefully watching a fleet of around 250 Chinese fishing vessels that had sailed just outside the Andean country’s waters, angering the domestic fishing industry and sparking a Twitter war between Washington and Beijing.
Illegal, unregulated fishing mainly in the waters adjacent to the disputed South Atlantic islands of the Falklands, South Georgia and South Sandwich costs Argentina an estimate of anywhere from one to two billion dollars, according to CEO Eduardo Pucci, from OPRAS, an Organization for the Protection of Fishery Resources.