A letter of intent signed by the government of the Argentine province of Santa Cruz and a Chinese fishing company, to provide port assistance to Chinese fishing vessels operating on the edge of Argentina’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) has sounded the alarm in the South American country.
Experts warn that Chinese company Hongdong Fisheries Co. Ltd. has a history of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and human rights abuses. Illegal Chinese fishing and resource depletion are among the core issues.
In November, during his visit to Fuzhou, capital of Fujian province, Santa Cruz Governor Claudio Vidal signed a letter of intent with Hongdong Fisheries for an investment agreement that “contemplates the modernization of port infrastructure, including improvements in the five provincial ports, the construction of shipyards, and the development of new fishing plants” in the Patagonian province, Argentine news site Infobae reported.
“Santa Cruz wants to cede a fishing port to a company that has already carried out illegal fishing in different regions of the world,” Milko Schvartzman, an expert in marine conservation and IUU fishing with nongovernmental organization Círculo de Políticas Ambientales (CPA), told Diálogo. “Let’s not be surprised if, in case an agreement of this type moves forward, these ships carry out illegal fishing within the Argentine EEZ, because they have already done so in other regions. They have not respected environmental, labor, or navigational safety regulations. This is the type of behavior these companies display: They steal resources from the same countries that support them.”
In 2018, Peruvian authorities detained the vessel Run Da 608 with 19 tons of squid illegally fished in the Peruvian Sea, Peru’s Ministry of Production, which manages national fisheries and aquaculture, reported at the time. “This Chinese vessel, along with hundreds of others, used Peruvian ports as a support base for its operations,” Schvartzman said in the recent report, Background on the Chinese Company Seeking Logistics Support in Santa Cruz Ports, published by the CPA. “The same fishing vessels that Peru was supporting with its ports were carrying out illegal fishing in its own EEZ,” the expert added.
Second largest Chinese fishery
This is not the first time that China has attempted to set foot in Patagonian ports to serve and supply the hundreds of vessels of its fleet that fish at the 201-mile mark, just at the edge of the Argentine Sea. “Previous attempts were the construction of a logistics center in [the province of] Tierra del Fuego, another attempt was in Chubut, and one in Santa Cruz,” Infobae reported.
According to Infobae, Hongdong Fisheries is believed to be the second largest Chinese fishing company, and perhaps the second largest in the world, behind China National Fisheries Corp. The company has at least 161 fishing vessels, but is believed to have a lot more that are registered under pseudonyms, offshore company names, or to fly the flag of other countries. It also has fishing bases in Mauritania and Guyana, the CPA report indicates. “Different sources point to Hongdong Fisheries Co. Ltd. as a subsidiary of the Chinese Army arms manufacturer Poly Group Corp,” the document adds.
Hongdong Fisheries’ fleet has a history of serious irregularities. Between 2017 and 2019, for example, the vessels Fu Yuan Yu 7880 and Fu Yuan Yu 7881 disabled their automatic identification system (AIS) during their operations in the South Atlantic at the edge of Argentina’s EEZ. Disabling AIS allows to conceal the position of vessels, prevent tracking, and cover up possible illicit activities, such as illegal fishing.
In 2017, Indonesian authorities detained the vessel Fu Yuan Yu 831, also owned by Hongdong Fisheries, which had entered Indonesian territorial waters. “Some 35 tons of fish, including hundreds of protected tiger sharks, were found in the vessel’s holds,” platform Vessel Tracker indicated.
The Fu Yuan Yu 831 carried flags from different countries, although international law prohibits vessels from sailing under more than one flag. “At the time of arrest the vessel was displaying the flag of East Timor, but investigators found five other flags on board: those of Malaysia, China, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Singapore,” Vessel Trackerindicated.
Hongdong Fisheries also has a history of forced labor, non-compliance with labor standards, and crew abandonment. In 2020, for example, the Fu Yuan Yu 7881 was accused of abandoning 24 Filipino crew members. The workers claimed that “they had not been given enough food and had to drink rusty water,” non-profit journalism platform The Outlaw Ocean Project reported.
Economic and environmental impacts
Providing logistics support to the Chinese fleet would have huge economic, environmental, and social impacts for Argentina, experts say. Local logistics support would allow the Chinese fleet to lower its operating costs, carry out even more illegal fishing, deplete marine resources, and endanger the local fishing industry.
“It is very likely that this would directly impact Argentine squid fishing companies, because they would have to lower prices even more to compete in international markets,” Schvartzman said. “That would bankrupt several of those companies. It could also bring loss of jobs and labor in fishing in Argentina,” he said.
Schvartzman estimates that the environmental impact would be “terrible,” since squid is an essential link in the South Atlantic food chain. It serves as food for fish such as hake, as well as sperm whales, penguins, elephant seals, and other species. In turn, the collapse of squid would also affect tourism in Patagonia, which currently attracts visitors from all over the world to observe penguins and other animals that feed in the same area where these boats fish.
“The negative impacts of granting an Argentine port to the Chinese fishing fleet are innumerable and outweigh by many times any possible benefit that any coastal city or town in the region would have,” Schvartzman concluded.
