The struggle of the Argentine Coast Guard against the 400 foreign ships ravaging the sea

ON BOARD OF THE COAST GUARD DERBES.- "This is our sea gate, we are here to capture any foreign ship crossing the 200 miles," said Capt. Prefect Gustavo Fernandez on the bridge.

The fishing fleet shines like a city suspended over water in the vast southern night. His light is blind. Prebes Derbes radar, coastguard GC-28 of the Navy Prefecture, in which the nation was on board for four days, shows a floating island of 400 ships, most of them being ships to blades. The noise of these plants attenuates and attracts the attention of birds who, confused, fly over, excite the dawn and take care of the smell of diesel.

Solitary Derbes is positioned at mile 200, at 47 degrees south latitude, at the altitude of Puerto Deseado, Santa Cruz, and in front of the paddle boats of different nationalities who are fighting to enter the Argentine maritime platform in order to take thousands of tons of squid, hake and black, shrimp and more than twenty species. The ships, mainly Chinese, deploy large metal arms with powerful lights that attract the squids, which are caught with the jiggers, tubes with several hooks.

The fight is uneven: the Derbes is one of five boats patrolling the zone of exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in Argentina, against the predators of the foreign fleet. This operation is done in solitude against 400 fishing boats. A fleet that, according to data from the international NGO Healthy Oceans, is growing at 5% per year and is the second largest concentration of unregulated and unregulated fishing vessels in the world.

Each coastguard sailed without escort, relaying for 15 to 40-day campaigns, between 42 ° and 48 ° south latitude.

The march of the Derbes is subtle, the two motors of 1400 horses diminish their revolutions. Each degree that the captain orders to turn is calculated with a strategic decision. The foreign fleet must not be able to anticipate the movements of the coast guard. Around midnight, when the activity is complete, the ship is positioned in front of them and navigates on mile 200, making the border a reality. The jiggers, but also the trawlers and longliners, sail half a mile from the Coast Guard.

transgressions

Argentina's fisheries resources are highly valued by countries such as China, South Korea, Russia, Spain and, to a lesser extent, the United States, who send their merchant fleets to fish for the different species found in the region. border with our continental shelf. This action is risky and often threatening. In their desire to get the best of fishing, they transgress the 200 miles and violate the federal fisheries law. "Even if they enter a meter, our job is to capture the offending vessel that has fished in national waters and bring it to the nearest port," Fernandez sums it up.

On March 14, 2016, the Derbes Coast Guard not only captured, but also sunk a Chinese ship, Lu Yan Yuan Yu. "We had to save their crew from the water we had the chance to do and also a briefcase with documents, and we could recognize the captain, "says Alejandro Girard, first officer.

The pursuit and sinking of the Chinese trawler ship lasted a day and a half. "We saw that he was fishing at mile 197, we made 322 stops but he never answered us, he escaped," says Girard. The protocol of procedure is based on the location of the target on the radar, its identification and its stop. They use channel 16 and the communication is done in Spanish and English, the international language of the sea. In the Derbes, as in the other coastguards, a group of four soldiers from the Albatros squadron gets on board of the captured ship with FAL automatic rifles.

If the vessel in question does not stop its engines, the next step is to emit sound and light signals. In case of emptying, plans are disabled, such as radar and GPS antennas. "One of our goals is to preserve the country's economic resources," Girard said.

Sources from the Undersecretariat for Fisheries and Aquaculture of the nation baderted that it was not estimated what Argentina was losing due to illegal depredation. Argentina sells 90% of what it produces to about 100 countries. Last year, the improvement over the previous year was 8.7% and a record number of operations was recorded. The featured product? The shrimp

Floating city

After gigantic banks of squid (of the species Illex argentinus), the fleet of jiggers is inhabited by an average of 14,000 sailors who stay there six or eight months (some all year). They live in boats where daily life is very difficult. Healthy Oceans speaks of badual abuse, slavery and even murders inside these ships, which are usually restored in the port of Montevideo. "It is the second most visited port by fishing boats suspected of being illegal," said Milko Schvartzman, coordinator within this organization.

The EEZ is the area that extends from the baselines of the coast to mile 200. Each nautical mile is equal to 1852 meters. The Argentine sea thus penetrates nearly 400 kilometers from its coast. He can only fish with the national flag. Foreigners are allowed to make the pbadage innocent, that is to say without fishing. Some of the most sought-after species, such as squid, are coming from the Atlantic from the Malvinas Islands, in search of warmer water on our platform.

"We know when we are leaving, but never when we come back," confesses the official Juan Jose Ayala, who arrives from Bella Vista in Buenos Aires, when approaching the Derbes Coast Guard. The place of departure is in Puerto Madryn. For 15 days, 41 crew members will have to live on a boat 69 meters long and 10.5 meters wide. They carry 65,000 liters of drinking water and 290,000 liters of diesel, sailing in waters that can not ensure the survival of a human being more than four minutes. The boat still carries food for eight days at sea. It is in case the communication with the land is lost.

Life on the boat is summed up by short strolls on the deck, after-dinner in the Officer's Room, where a slip-resistant tablecloth tries to keep the bottles standing and talks on deck, the meeting point . The waves, of more than two meters, force to balance and condition the food. "If time allows, I prepare soup," says Pablo Mamani, the cook who was cox and should, before the retirement of the person in charge of the pots, take over. "After a storm, we prepare a stew to cheer us up," he says. The kitchen is the only resource you need to locate the days in the calendar: Saturday night, there are pizza and Sunday, roasts. The climate, as always, determines everything.

"I miss my family very much, but I chose to be here because I feel that I serve my country," Lina Gauna says. She is a radio born in Formosa and one of two women on the crew. "It's a very good experience for a woman, the companions adapt to our presence," he says.

Behind the schools

The Derbes has a cruising speed of 10 knots (each knot equals 1,852 km / h), so it takes a day of sailing to cover 200 km. From there, thanks to its radar system, you can know for sure where the "floating city" is.

On the way, a southern and lonely right whale pbades through the harbor, raising a column of water. This is also the time for killer whales that enter the Golfo Nuevo. Seagulls fly over the bridge during the entire patrol. The waves, subjected to the austral wind, roll the ship (they move it from port to starboard). Walking without hanging walls and railings is impossible.

The floating city moves following the shoals between latitude 42 south and 48 (from Península Valdés to Puerto Deseado). To reach it, a defeat of 260 nautical miles must be made. "My job is to stay alert 24 hours a day," says operations manager Raúl Kloster, who is responsible for updating the navigation charts.

The Coast Guard has a system called MIRA (Surveillance and Identification of AIS Radar) that scans 50 miles with a signal that translates the entire AIS system (Automatic Identification System) of ships that are navigating. This cryptographic code displays on the screen the complete information of the ships (nationality, destination port, origin, etc.). Many fishing boats deactivate this signal and the radar then only targets them. This officer is also responsible for the defeat of the ship. The depths are erratic and crucial. The Argentine maritime platform has an average of 150 meters. Beyond 200 miles, the sensors mark up to 4100 meters deep.

"Where the jiggers go, they sweep everything," says Nelson Guerrero, a fisheries and civilian inspector on board. The tension and silence on the deck are absolute, the look is on the radar screen. "This border is unknown to the Argentineans, it is respected thanks to our presence here", says the captain, "the sea is a hostile environment, but we are proud to do this work".