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Image: Círculo de Políticas Ambientales
The link between the fishing vessels that carry out unregulated fishing in the South Atlantic and the Government of Uruguay
(URUGUAY, 7/8/2023)
Regarding the message for help from a crew member of the Chinese fishing fleet
 For at least two decades the Port of Montevideo has been the base of distant water unregulated fishing fleets (DWF). Usually, vessels flying the flag of China, South Korea, Taiwan and Spain can be seen there, but also with other flags known as Flags of Convenience (FOC): Belize, Vanuatu, Panama, etc.
Uruguayan-flagged fishing vessels are in extinction, in recent years the national industry has contracted by 49%.1 Montevideo is chosen by these fleets, on the one hand, for the Free Port Regime, which exempts the fishing fleet from taxes foreign; and on the other, due to the absence of controls or inspections on the ships, be they sanitary, environmental or navigational safety.
Many of the boats that go to port do not even have life jackets, nor their name inscribed, among other things.
In Montevideo, legal representation and logistical support, including the cover-up of deaths on board, illegal fishing and 'accidents', is carried out by a group of companies called Agentes Marítimos, mostly foreign capital.
Photo: ANP
The Lu Qing Yuan Yu 765, the ship of origin of the crew member who issued an SOS message in a bottle recently found on a beach in the Department of Maldonado, is legally represented and supplied in Uruguay by the Christophersen Maritime Agency2, part of the Christophersen Group, also known as CHR Group.3
Above: Asian jigging fleet anchored in the roadstead of the port of Montevideo. Below: sector for foreign fishing vessels | Photo: Milko Schvartzman
CHR is a company in charge of representing many ships involved in cases of human rights abuses that arrive in Uruguay. To mention a few cases:
In 2014, CHR represented the Jia De 1, a Chinese fishing vessel from which the 28 African crew members escaped and reported being beaten on board: they had shackle marks on their ankles.4
 During 2016 CHR represented the Taiwanese ships that trafficked North Korean slave workers through the Port of Montevideo. 5 In 2019 CHR represented the fishing vessel Ou Ya 17 (Chinese flag) that unloaded a crew member who died of pulmonary edema 6.
In turn, in 2021 he represented another Chinese fishing vessel whose crew member was abandoned dead in the port. And so with countless ships with the worst records.
CHR Group are "ANCAP official distributors for foreign-flagged boats."7 ANCAP is the Uruguayan state oil company. It also owns several of the tankers that supply the non-regulated fishing fleet in the South Atlantic8. CHR, through its subsidiary Fewell SA, has also benefited from the ship scrapping works in the Port of Montevideo9.
 CHR is part of the group that manages the largest railway complex in Uruguay, the transport of cellulose pulp to the Port of Montevideo from the UPM2 pulp mill, a concession for 22 years and more than one billion dollars, together with Cointer and Deutsche Bahn (from German state).
Christophersen's CEO and partner is the Argentine Guillermo Jacob, formerly known as 'the king of squid', for his role in fishing in Argentina, and also for having financed the political campaign of the candidate for Mayor of Mar del Plata Fernando Gutiérrez in the 90s.10
In 2019, Christophersen donated one million dollars to the presidential campaign of the current president of Uruguay Luis Lacalle Pou.11
 Between 2013 and 2018 alone, foreign fishing vessels unloaded an average of close to one dead crew member per month, according to official data from the Uruguayan Navy.
Since January 2023, the National Administration of Ports of Uruguay has changed the registration system for port arrivals, so that all the information regarding these cases is not accessible from its website as it was until then, which makes it difficult to exercise the right to information regarding environmental and human rights issues, ratified by Uruguay in the Escazú Agreement.
The cases of trafficking and slavery in fishing in the Port of Montevideo are so abundant that the issue has been pointed out in the annual Report on Trafficking in Persons published by the United States Department of State, in which Uruguay is qualified with the flag yellow. Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing has also put Montevideo among the worst ports in the world in different investigations.
But while illegal fishing and slavery in fishing boats are a business for some, Montevideo will continue to be a port associated with organized crime.
URUGUAY
Wednesday, July 05, 2023
Chinese jigger ship Lu Qing Yuan Yu 765 inspected yesterday by the Uruguayan Prefecture (photo: Milko Schvartzman) In the last month, 5 ships arrived in Montevideo that in the past unloaded...
URUGUAY
Wednesday, July 05, 2023
There were crew members who had not touched port for two years and back salaries While walking along the coast of Sauce de Portezuelo, near the Laguna del Sauce Airport and the Punta del ...
URUGUAY
Saturday, July 01, 2023
Local authorities investigate a message in a bottle in which a crew member says he is locked up on a Chinese ship The Prefecture is working to contact the ship, which is located near th...
1 El país: “Uruguay da la espalda al mar: la industria pesquera cae 49% en una década”, 06 de mayo de 2023. Disponible en: https://elpais.com/internacional/2023-05-06/uruguay-da-la-espalda-al-mar-la-industria-pesquera-cae-49-en-una-decada.html La Diaria Ciencia: “Un aporte para pensar la pesca en Uruguay”, 19 de abril de 2023. https://ladiaria.com.uy/ciencia/articulo/2023/4/un-aporte-para-pensar-la-pesca-en-uruguay/
2 http://ag.christophersen.com.uy/es/
3 https://www.chrgroup.com.uy/
4 Teledoce: “Cancillería denunció esclavitud, racismo y discriminación”, 21 de mayo de 2014. Disponible en: https://www.teledoce.com/telemundo/nacionales/cancilleria-denuncio-esclavitud-racismo-y-discriminacion/ Perfil: “Descontrol, maltrato y muerte”, 09 de junio de 2019. Disponible en: https://noticias.perfil.com/noticias/noticiasuruguay/2019-06-09-descontrol-maltrato-y-muerte.phtml
5 Insider: “The Rime of the Juche Mariner: North Korean Sailors and Fishermen Dispatched Overseas through Montevideo, Uruguay”. Disponible en: https://www.hrnkinsider.org/2016/06/the-rime-of-juche-mariner-northkorean.html
6 Oceanosanos (2019). Pesqueros chinos continúan bajando tripulantes muertos en el Puerto de Montevideo https://oceanosanos.org/pesqueros-chinos-continuan-bajando-tripulantes-muertos-en-el-puerto-de-montevideo/
7 http://ag.christophersen.com.uy/es/servicios/#BUNKER
8 Sealion, barco tanque operado por Lavinia Group, accionista de Christophersen. https://www.vesseltracking.net/ship/sealion-9377810 Montevideo.com. Tramaco S.A y sus accionistas Grupo Christophersen y Petrobras https://www.montevideo.com.uy/Negocios-y-Tendencias/-uc182127
9 Administración Nacional de Puertos (2022). ANP invierte 3 millones de dólares en recuperar espacios del puerto de Montevideo https://www.anp.com.uy/inicio/comunicacion/noticias/anp-invierte-3-millones-de-dolares-en-recuperar-espacios-delpuerto-de-montevideo
10 Colombo G. (2014). “De la Revolución Productiva a la Crisis de la Merluza. El conflicto social en la industria pesquera marplatense. Años 1989 – 2001. Propuesta de Tesis Doctoral. Doctorando en Historia. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Disponible en: http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/bitstream/handle/10915/49548/Documento_completo.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y
11 El País: “Que empresas financiaron las campañas electorales y en qué se gastó el dinero”, 10 de febrero de 2020. Disponible en: https://www.elpais.com.uy/informacion/politica/que-empresas-financiaron-las-campanas-electorales-yen-que-se-gasto-el-dinero
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