Chile keeps eye on Chinese fishing fleet along South American coast
OCTOBER 8, 20203:50 PMUPDATED 4 HOURS AGO
By Natalia A. Ramos Miranda
2 MIN READ
SANTIAGO (Reuters) - The Chilean government is keeping close tabs on a large fleet of Chinese fishing vessels that has stirred up controversy further north along the Pacific coast of South America, Foreign Minister Andres Allamand said on Thursday.
Allamand said Chile´s Defense Ministry and Navy were monitoring the advance of the fleet in order to protect the “sovereignty” of the country´s exclusive economic zone.
The fleet consists of some 300 ships that frequent the Pacific Ocean, often around Peruvian waters, Allamand said.
The boats, previously fishing for giant squid near the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador, angered the domestic fishing industry in Peru last month and sparked a Twitter war between Washington and Beijing.
More:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chile-fishing-china/ch
~ ~ ~
Tensions rise in Ecuador and Peru as Chinese fishing fleet moves south from Galapagos
Tensions are rising along the Pacific coast of South America as a giant Chinese fishing fleet of roughly 300 vessels moves from the edge of the Galapagos marine preserve to the waters off Peru.
Tuesday afternoon, President Trump excoriated China on a variety of issues, ranging from the coronavirus to human rights, in a speech to the United Nations. He singled out Chinese fishing and maritime behavior, saying the country “dumps millions and millions of tons of plastic and trash into the oceans, overfishes other countries’ waters” and destroys coral reefs.
Soon after, the U.S. Embassy in Peru issued a tweet noting the Chinese mega-fleet off its shores, accusing the fleet of changing ship names and disabling GPS tracking to limit surveillance of the fleet’s activities.
“Overfishing can cause enormous ecological and economic damage,” the tweet said. “Peru cannot afford such a loss.”
More:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/tensions-rise-ecuador-peru-chinese-000101740.html
~ ~ ~
Looks as if they started exploiting resources in the Pacific side of the Americas, then moved east to the Atlantic.
Thank you for the information.
= new reply since forum marked as read