Guillermo de los Santos | Photo: courtesy Revista Puerto

Argentine jiggers sector reject Chinese landing in Chubut

ARGENTINA
Wednesday, March 31, 2021, 06:00 (GMT + 9)

"It is an outdated idea that we reject," asserted a business leader of the Argentinean fleet, questioning the incentive for Chinese companies that fish illegally within the ZZE to make a logistics base in Comodoro Rivadavia province.

The port of Comodoro Rivadavia is preparing to launch an international tender for the operation and exploitation of the shipyard located within its facilities, and legal representatives of Chinese companies, including one that was infringed for illegally fishing in Argentine waters, confirmed that they received the invitation from the port authorities to invest and build a logistics base in Chubut.

The confirmation by the lawyer Roberto Wyn Hugues of the Shao & Asociados study that the Chinese companies Zhoushan Huaxi Ocean Fhiseries, Hongdong Fhiseries, Ronggheng Rongyuan and Shanghai Kunting Import are interested in developing a logistics epicenter in Comodoro Rivadavia to serve the foreign fleet which operates at mile 201 awoke the alarms in the national jigging fleet.

Chines jigger (Photo: Stockfile)

"This is outrageous"

What until now were rumors and transcendent, now it is confirmed that there were even letters of intent to develop a logistics center in Chubut to provide services to the foreign fleet that plunders the Argentine sea.

The businessman Guillermo de los Santos, a reference of the national jigging fleet, warned with concern about this progress and anticipated that a strong joint position of the various chambers that bring together the sector will be sought to express to the provincial and national authorities their rejection of an advanced of this magnitude.

“Prima facie this is outrageous. It would be providing services and logistics to those who destroy our natural resources. While on the one hand there is talk of regulating the operations of the 200 miles, on the other hand, indiscriminate assistance would be given to the number of ships that affect our resources ”, De los Santos described to Revista Puerto about the possible landing of Chinese investors to Chubut to supply ships that prey on Argentine squid.

"They are going to take over the port of Comodoro"

“It is false that this can serve the province. The irruption of the Chinese would mean that they are going to take over the shipyard, first, and then they are going to take over the port of Comodoro Rivadavia. First, they will invest in the shipyard and then they will be left with other services that other companies provide today, and they will destroy local companies that will not be able to compete with them. It is a very dangerous scheme and that is why we must be vigilant, ”warned the former CAPA president.

Unfair competition

"I do not know who is promoting these ideas, but it is an outdated idea that we reject," emphasized the business leader with extensive experience in the national pot industry.

It is worth mentioning that the Argentine fleet dedicated to the exploitation of the Illex argentinus resource is made up of around 80 ships, which compete directly with more than 300 ships, mostly of Chinese flag, that operate on the edge of the Argentine Exclusive Economic Zone.

“The reality is that they fish at the limit of our jurisdiction and during the night they are tempted to drift into (the EEZ) and they start fishing and two or three cables remain inside (cable: it is a unit of length nautical) and that is where they make a difference by taking our resources, ”insisted De los Santos.

Impact in figures

On the other hand, he gave as an example, the problems that the Argentine fleet has in the exclusion zone that Great Britain imposed on the Malvinas.

“This year Argentina had its fleet fishing at the 48th parallel; There were two or three vessels, and they found squid and that squid is the sub-pathogen that we hadn't found for years, and we started fishing for it, and all the boats were with excellent yields. We were very on the edge of the British exclusion zone. And the squid went to the exclusion zone and consequently we couldn't fish anymore and we had to go back to port ”, he explained.

“The fleet that operates in Malvinas generates catches per 100,000 tons of squid this year. Outside the 200 miles (where the Chinese fleet operates) we estimate that 200,000 tons have been fished so far this year, and we (the Argentine jigging fleet) are below 200,000 tons. This shows in numbers how is the composition of the year and the impact generated by the foreign fleet, "he said.

To all this, if you move through the logistics base in Comodoro Rivadavia "they would be telling us that they are coming to invest, but in reality they are coming to invest with what they take from our squid", he graphed.

Reaction of the national fleet

De los Santos anticipated that there will be a reaction from the national fleet. “I have worked hard during my years as CAPA president to unite all the chambers, and now an inter-chamber coordinator has been achieved, and we will try to enforce that union. Situations like these cannot be allowed to pass, and it is necessary that we react quickly and present solid arguments about the inconvenience of opening a logistics center to the Chinese fleet, ”he said, confirming that they will not sit idly by.

Author: Nelson Saldivia/ Revista Puerto

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