The ship in question is a new addition to the Chinese shipbuilding industry. It left the shipyards just a few months ago and traveled halfway around the world to reach our shores. Although it flies the flag of a distant country called Vanuatu , its owners and crew are Chinese.

How did they catch it? Because of its speed . A ship that size, if it's just passing through, sails quickly to reach its destination. But the Hai Xing 2 was detected moving at a "turtle's pace" (about 8 km/h) near the San Jorge Gulf . In the language of the sea, going so slowly and zigzagging means only one thing: it had its nets in the water, hauling in Argentine fish.

Historically, these boats played on the confusion. When the Coast Guard saw them, they claimed they were just "passing through." But since February of this year, Argentina has implemented stricter rules:

It is clear that the Hai Xing 2 is not just "a ship in the middle of the sea." It is part of a fleet of hundreds of foreign vessels that position themselves right where our control ends to plunder the ecosystem and take hundreds of thousands of tons of hake and squid that belong to the national heritage.

The detection occurred in the heart of the San Jorge Gulf , a vital ecosystem shared by the provinces of Chubut and Santa Cruz , and which today is the main target of fleets that do not respect borders.

Through the Coast Guard Pro System , a geospatial intelligence platform that integrates radar, satellites, and databases with over 12 billion records, the Argentine government no longer needs to "see" the vessel with binoculars. The new technology allows for pattern analysis: if a ship travels at less than 6 knots (about 11 km/h) , the system issues a red alert. It's the "fingerprint" of the fishing activity. The Hai Xing 2 was detected at 4.3 knots , irrefutable proof that its nets were devastating our seabed .

The punishment

If the law is strictly enforced, this vessel faces penalties that, since the 2020 reform, are no longer merely symbolic. At the current value of the Fishing Unit ($1.683 per liter of diesel), the fines are divided as follows:

The political reality

This is where the analysis needs to be honest. While we celebrate the detection of one ship, there is a floating city of between 400 and 500 foreign vessels —80% of them Chinese—waiting for the slightest opportunity to enter.

Argentina has one of the most advanced monitoring systems in the region, surpassing many neighboring countries in technology. However, its actual effectiveness is low due to the size of the attacking fleet. Penalizing one ship out of 500 is like trying to stop a locust invasion by catching them with your bare hands.

Concept

Estimated Figures (2026)

Foreign fleet on the border

500 ships (average)

Annual economic loss

US$600 to US$1 billion

Effective detections

Less than 2% of the total fleet

More than fishing, it's about sovereignty.

Fishing illegally in Argentina is a political act . These vessels have logistical support (many use the port of Montevideo) and, in several cases, diplomatic protection from their countries of origin.

The situation, which has been repeatedly described, is clear: cutting-edge technology is insufficient without a political decision from the State to make the South Atlantic a true exclusion zone for predators. The San Jorge Gulf, with its abundance of shrimp and hake, is part of our food supply and our future. Every minute the Hai Xing 2 spent within our 200-mile zone, it took more than just fish; it took a piece of our national sovereignty.

Fountain:

Fish