The Argentine Navy has been stepping up control of its jurisdictional waters in the South Atlantic as hundreds of Chinese fishing vessels move closer to its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), in yet another attempt from China’s massive fishing fleet to illegally plunder foreign waters.
In late February, the Argentine Navy, under the Joint Maritime Command of the Armed Forces’ Joint Chiefs of Staff, launched Operation Mare Nostrum I to reinforce surveillance at mile 200, reaffirming the government’s commitment to protect its maritime spaces. As part of the operation, the Navy deployed various naval units, including vessels and aircraft to deter crime at sea, including illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, the Argentine Defense Ministry said on February 22.
“In this government, we defend the Argentine Sea with all the resources at our disposal,” Argentina’s Defense Ministry said via Facebook on February 21. “From mile 200, the Argentine Navy […] under the coordination of the Joint Maritime Command, stands firm, patrolling and watching and ensuring that no foreign ship crosses our exclusive economic zone to plunder what belongs to Argentines. Sovereignty is action and we are ready to act and defend it.”
With squid season in full force, hundreds of Chinese fishing vessels congregate off the coast of Argentina, near the South American country marine boundary, an area known for IUU fishing carried out by those same Chinese vessels. According to the Argentine Navy, during Mare Nostrum I, military units identified some 380 fishing vessels just outside Argentina’s EEZ.
“Monitoring and deterrent measures are all well and good, but the illegal fishing situation in the South Atlantic remains critical, especially due to the maneuvers of the Chinese fleet to conceal the illicit activities it has been engaging in for years,” Milko Schvartzman, coordinator of oceans and fisheries projects at Argentine nongovernmental organization Circle of Environmental Policies, told Diálogo.
Experts believe that the exploitative fishing practices of the Chinese fleet, the biggest offender of marine destruction worldwide, is stripping the oceans bare, posing catastrophic risks to marine ecosystems, wreaking havoc on economies, and depriving local fishermen of their livelihoods.
Without respite
The Chinese fishing fleet can fish without respite because it relies on motherships or refrigerated cargo ships that anchor at the edge of the EEZ for smaller vessels to unload their catch, refuel, and restock, facilitating their return to fishing grounds with no need for returning to port.
“On the other hand, a growing portion of this IUU fishing fleet operating on the edge of the Argentine EEZ conceals its identity, with Chinese vessels using the flags of convenience of other countries to hide their real origin,” Schvartzman added.
According to the expert, since 2020, fishing vessels flying the flags of countries that had not been registered before, for example, Cameroon or Vanuatu, a small island nation in the southwestern Pacific, have been detected at the limits of Argentina’s EEZ, the so-called 201 mile zone.
“This trend is increasing. In the 2024-2025 season, at least 13 vessels flying flags of convenience were documented,” Schvartzman said. “All these ships were found to have departed from China and to have Chinese people at the helm.”
A CNN analysis of the cluster of Chinese vessels recently off Argentina’s coast, in which it was able to identify by name some 200 Chinese ships, revealed that those fishing boats were much more likely to have turned off their Automatic Identification System. When ships disable these devices, they become invisible to public ship tracking platforms, allowing them to cross over into Argentina’s EEZ and fish illegally, undetected.
By comparing the images with historical ship tracking data, following Operation Mare Nostrum I, numerous Chinese vessels that had engaged in illegal fishing were identified, according to NGO Outlaw Ocean Project, which reports on human rights, labor, and environmental concerns on the high seas.
The Argentine squid is one of the species most affected by overexploitation. This mollusk plays a fundamental role in the marine food chain, and its uncontrolled capture alters the balance of the ecosystem, Argentine news site Infobae reported.
Schvartzman said that in addition to giant squid, the Chinese fleet captures hake, sharks, rays, and even mammals such as dolphins and elephant seals, putting protected species at risk of collapse.
The Argentine Sea is an area of strategic value because, as well as being an inter-oceanic passage, a reserve of natural resources, and the gateway to Antarctica, it is the focus of international trade routes, Argentine military magazine DEF reported.
“Our targets are the foreign fishing vessels that, from the end of November until the middle of the year, call at our adjacent area outside of mile 200, in search of squid and other species,” Argentine Navy Rear Admiral Rodolfo Berazay Martínez, head of the Joint Maritime Command of the Armed Forces’ Joint Chiefs of Staff, told DEF.
“We must remain vigilant and increase all measures against the scourge of illegal fishing, because China causes environmental damage in the South Atlantic, does not respect any labor regulations for its crews, and puts maritime safety at risk,” concluded Schvartzman.
