New patrol vessels built in France are deployed
The Argentine Navy has deployed its two newest offshore patrol vessels (OPVs), ARA Bouchard (P-51) and ARA Piedrabuena (P-52), to monitor an international fishing fleet en route to the South Atlantic near the country's economic zone (EEZ). While there are no confirmed reports that these vessels are engaged in illegal, unregulated or unreported fishing, it is suspected that this is or will soon be the case.
Bouchard and Piedrabuena, together with a Beechcraft B-200 Super King Air, were monitoring ships travelling through the Strait of Magellan on their way to the open sea in the South Atlantic, according to a press release on 23 December. Argentina has acquired four Gowind-class OPVs from France, manufactured by Naval Group. The third unit, ARA Storni (P-53), was delivered in October 2021, while the fourth and final ship, ARA Bartolomé Cordero, was launched in September 2021 and is expected to be delivered in early 2022.
Argentina has been fighting IUU fishing (illegal, unregulated, unreported) for a long time. In 2016, for example, the Mantilla-class patrol boat GC - 28 shot at and sank a Chinese fishing vessel. The vessel had reportedly ignored warning shots and attempted to flee before ramming the Argentinian patrol boat.
An international fishing fleet, made up of vessels from countries such as China, Spain, South Korea and Taiwan, is constantly travelling throughout South America and changes with the season. For example, the same fleet was travelling near the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador in July-August 2021 and then headed south via Peru and Ecuador. It is currently crossing the Strait of Magellan to work in the South Atlantic south of the equator during the summer months. In Argentina, the fishing vessels concentrate on catching octopus, spider crab (centolla) and crabs.
Sources: CIMSEC / Alejandro Sanchez / wwf / maritime executive
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