智利海軍艦船監視龐大的中國漁船隊

 Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

(Source: Yahoo)

(Source Yahoo)

Chilean navy ships monitor huge Chinese fishing fleet

BBC Wed., December 16, 2020, 1:34 a.m. PST

The Chilean navy says it is closely monitoring 11 Chinese fishing vessels in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

A Chinese fishing fleet has been accused by conservation group Oceana of "pillaging" the waters off the Galapagos Islands for squid.

The fleet is made up of more than 400 fishing vessels, of which 11 are currently in Chile's EEZ, according to the Chile's navy.

Chile said last month it would take measures to prevent illegal fishing.

Anger as fleet moves south

The large Chinese fleet caused concern when it arrived in waters off the Galapagos Islands, a Unesco World Heritage site which forms part of Ecuador, in July.

The Chinese embassy in the Ecuadorean capital, Quito, said the government had a "zero tolerance" policy towards illegal fishing.

China also proposed a moratorium on fishing near the Galapagos between September and November.

But when the Chinese fishing vessels moved south to waters off Peru, they again sparked anger - this time among Peruvian fishermen worried that the large Chinese fleet would overfish the squid they rely on for their livelihood.

Oceana, the world's largest ocean conservation group, alleged that it had documented instances in which some of the Chinese vessels had disabled their public tracking devices, which Oceana says could be a sign that they were conducting "illicit activities".

Last month, four South American countries with Pacific coastlines joined forces to combat illegal fishing.

Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru issued a joint statement saying they would work together "to prevent, discourage and jointly confront" any attempts to illegally fish. They did not mention China or the Chinese fishing boats in their statement.

Chile's navy said it was monitoring the vessels in its EEZ. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, coastal nations have jurisdiction over the natural resources within their EEZ, meaning that the Chinese boats are free to pass through the waters but not to fish.

Translation

智利海軍錶示正在密切監視其專屬經濟區（EEZ）中的11艘中國漁船。

海洋保護組織Oceana指責中國漁船隊“掠奪”加拉巴哥群島(Galapagos Islands)附近海域的魷魚。

智利海軍表示，該艦隊由400多艘漁船組成，其中11艘目前在智利的專屬經濟區。

智利在上月表示將採取措施防止非法捕魚。

對船隊向南移動感到憤怒

中國龐大的船隊在7月抵達加拉帕戈斯群島附近的水域時引起了關注，加拉帕戈斯群島是聯合國教科文組織的世界遺產，是厄瓜多爾的一部分。

中國駐厄瓜多爾首都基多的使館說，政府對非法捕魚實行“零容忍”政策。

中國還提議在9月至11月期間暫停在加拉帕戈斯群島附近捕魚。

但是當中國漁船向南駛向秘魯海域時，它們再次引起激怒 – 這次秘魯漁民中擔心大型中國船隊會過度捕撈他們賴以生存的魷魚。

世界上最大的海洋保護組織大洋洲（Oceana）聲稱，它已記錄在案，其中一些中國船隻停止開啟其公開跟踪設備，大洋洲說這可能表明他們正在進行“非法活動”。

在上個月，四個擁有太平洋海岸線的南美國家聯合起來打擊非法捕魚。

智利，哥倫比亞，厄瓜多爾和秘魯發表聯合聲明，表示將共同努力“防止，阻止和共同對抗”任何非法捕魚的企圖，他們在聲明中沒有提及中國或中國漁船。

智利海軍錶示正在對專屬經濟區的船隻進行監視。根據《聯合國海洋法公約》，沿海國家對其專屬經濟區內的自然資源擁有管轄權，這意味著中國船隻可以自由通過水域，但不能釣魚。

       So, the presence of Chinese fishing fleet has been suspected by conservation group Oceana of "pillaging" the waters off the Galapagos Islands for squid. A think any illegal activities of these fishing boats could erode the good image of China internationally.