A drone view shows crew members aboard a squid jigger vessel operating outside Argentina’s exclusive economic zone, where foreign fishing vessels, mostly Chinese, operate just beyond the boundary, in the South Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Argentina on Jan. 18. | REUTERS
BUENOS AIRES – On a balmy January night, an Argentine coast guard ship’s radio picked up garbled Mandarin broadcast from nearby boats.
They were among some 200 Chinese fishing vessels that spend months at a time each year near the South American country’s waters, hunting primarily for catch to feed the world’s largest squid market.
The size of the flotilla has increased by nearly 50% over the last decade. In that time, Buenos Aires has bulked up its surveillance to ensure the fleet doesn’t fish in the exclusive economic zone where Argentina controls all maritime resources.
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