The Argentine Navy intercepted and blocked a fleet of about 300 Chinese fishing vessels, primarily squid jiggers, attempting to invade Argentina’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The area, about 200 nautical miles off the coast of southern Argentina, is known for illegal and unregulated fishing, often carried out by Chinese vessels, Argentine Navy says. These Chinese vessels operate like floating factories, capable of extracting thousands of tons of marine animals according to some groups.
China’s distant-water fleet is the largest and most destructive in the world, with a long history of plundering foreign waters. In late February, the Argentine military, releasesd footage showing the scale of a flotilla near a marine boundary which separates the country’s more restrictive exclusive economic zone from less-regulated international waters.
Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing is an environmental crime, but many organizations and media outlets remain silent on China’s role in ocean plunder.