At this time, the fishing vessel Tai An , owned by the Chinese businessman based in the capital of Tierra del Fuego, Liu Zhijiang, has just entered the port of Ushuaia, mooring at its dock.
The 104-meter-long giant carries approximately 163,000 kg of toothfish in its hold, without having a fishing permit for that species and exceeding the incidental amount allowed by regulations.
Last night, still waiting for plane tickets to reach that destination from the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, the head of the Fisheries portfolio, Antonio Cazorla , was currently on a flight to the capital of Tierra del Fuego. , who had instructed the authorities of the Military Naval Prefecture to accompany the ship in the last leg of navigation to the port, by means of a Coast Guard vessel that operates in those latitudes. And once moored, the vessel remains in its custody until such time as records are taken of the fishing reports and the reliable volume that it has in its warehouse of the precious species that at this time is considered a product of illegal fishing within the ZEEA.
In this way, all precautions will be taken to prepare a report resulting from what was done on board the tide that began on February 3 and entered the port of the southern city of Fuegian minutes ago, completing 46 days of operations in the icy waters. of the South Atlantic.
The line of events, widely disseminated by national media, made noise when the companies that own Individual Transferable Catch Quotas (CITC) for toothfish and that operate on the precious resource, took note of the events that were happening while the vessel dedicated to target fishing for tail species to obtain raw material for manufacturing surimi on board, had captured without possessing a capture permit for this species.
In a note reflected by Pescare regarding the presumption of a clear violation of the Federal Fisheries Law that could result in undeclared and undocumented Illegal Fishing within the Argentine sovereign space (ZEEA) by a national flag vessel, the companies Argenova SA, Estremar SAU and the Empresa Pesquera de la Patagonia y Antártida SA (Pesantar) with the signature of the Executive Directors Dr. Mauro Zamboni, Alan Mackern and Roberto Crespo respectively, sent a letter to the then National Director of Fisheries Control and Supervision (DNCyFP) Dr.Julián Suárez raising severe concerns about the alleged improper fishing of toothfish by the vessel Tai An (MN 01530), belonging to the company Prodesur SA
Despite some discrepancies within the DNCyFP in the office of the Undersecretary of Fisheries, the latter made the decision not to immediately transfer the vessel to port, as usual and for almost insignificant facts compared to such an alleged violation of the Law, Suarez would have requested.A lot of folklore in calls from the Foreign Ministry, alleged threats and differences of opinion that we do not know, because opportunely on the last day of work of Julián Suárez he did not want to give any statement on the matter minutes after presenting the “indeclinable resignation from my job to from this moment on."
