Fleet of 300 Chinese Boats Threatens Chilean Artisanal Fishermen

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – “The Chilean Navy has been instructed to be on the alert to the situation of protecting the territorial waters,” said Román Zelaya, undersecretary of fishing under the Ministry of Economy, Development, and Tourism, in a statement referring to the flow of Asian vessels threatening to enter the 200 miles of Chilean territorial waters.

Coming from the north, with formal registration off the coasts of Ecuador – on the border of the Galapagos Islands – and Peru, the fleet of Chinese vessels would exceed 300. Several of them have already been denounced for illegal fishing. This is not new, as over the past four years at least 22 vessels, 18 of them Chinese, have entered the largest marine protected area on the continent, called Nazca-Desventuradas, in Chile.

The latter is one of more than ten “conservation zones” that exist in the country, making it one of the top five with the largest number of protected kilometers, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

However, despite the aforementioned, none of the marine parks count on an effective administration plan that ensures the protection of the 200 nautical miles in which non-accredited boats are not allowed to access.

On September 24th, the US Embassy in Peru issued an alert due to the presence of 300 Chinese ships. At that time they were approximately 230 miles off the coast of the city of Pisco.

A month before, Ecuador also warned and confirmed that the fleet was stopped outside the Galapagos marine reserve. In view of such claims, the Chilean authority issued a press release in which it stated that it was “vigilant”.

“Border control and the fight against illegal fishing are two essential aspects, and all state bodies are working on this,” says Zelaya, the Chilean Undersecretary of Fisheries.

Infobae spoke with one of the representatives of the artisanal fishermen of the coastal city of Coronel, in the region of Bio Bio, a town located 530 kilometers south of Santiago. Andrés Sepúlveda, 49 years old, has been dedicated to artisan fishing for forty years. He waits with concern the crossing of the “Chinese” as they call them, due to the fact that in recent years these boats have been frequently crossing.

“Those who are most affected by illegal fishing, when this Chinese fleet comes, are people fishing for albacore, because this species is found roughly where they cross. The Chilean authority is supposed to safeguard the 200 miles, and if they cross beyond that, there is nothing to be done,” declares Sepulveda.

And whilst the protection of the 200 miles is guaranteed, Sepulveda says the arrival of these ships is also detrimental due to the type of extraction they employ, even when they are further away from the Chilean territorial waters.

“As I say, it is the Albacore fishermen who are most affected, because the Chinese are not only looking for Humboldt squid, they take whatever they catch, they take it all. Even though they go after the humboldt shrimp, they take everything they find, because there is nothing left in their seas,” he warns.

The main damage claimed by Chile‘s artisanal fishermen is the impact on their production capacity. A situation that is already affected by the regulations that govern the current Chilean Fisheries Act, he says.

“To tell the truth, we feel disadvantaged since Pablo Longueira’s corrupt law was passed. Because the fish in my country have a name since before they are born. With this law granting fishing rights to a few rich families, the sea virtually belongs to them. So, we who do artisanal fishing for hake, anchovy, sardine, sierra, and horse mackerel, are more affected. They leave us with the minimum”, says Andrés.

On October 1st, the NGO Oceana warned through a press release that the same horde of fishing boats that had already been in Ecuador and Peru, are now going to Chile. The organization added to the already known background that some of these boats would be turning off their satellite positioning systems to act with impunity in their illegal extraction.

Cesar Astete, director of this NGO’s fisheries campaign, stressed the need to curb the threat of what is considered the world’s leading fishing power, which reaches the Pacific coast. “Approximately one month ago, the international fishing fleet of these nearly 300 vessels under Chinese flag has been monitored and tracked, and is currently 390 miles off the exclusive economic zone,” he said.

For its part, the Association of Industrial Fishing Companies (ASIPES), represented by Macarena Cepeda, its president, has expressed its concern, calling on the authorities to protect the sustainability of the Chilean sea.

“Our concern is economic and strategic. Today the available biomasses in the sea are very attractive to all these fleets that pursue resources throughout the world’s oceans, therefore we cannot allow these foreign fleets to jeopardize or destroy the work of years to responsibly and sustainably restore Chile’s resources,” she said.

The Chilean Navy called a press conference in Valparaiso, in which it publicly introduced a special action plan that seeks to protect the country’s natural and economic interests and also reported on the protocol by which they hope to monitor the situation of the Chinese fleet approaching the Chilean territorial waters.

Source: infobae