Welcome   Sponsored By
Subscribe | Register | Advertise | Newsletter | About us | Contact us
   


Photo courtesy from Mongabay/Milko Schvartzman

The company that opens the door of Montevideo to Chinese ships with illegal records

Click on the flag for more information about Uruguay URUGUAY
Thursday, February 02, 2023, 07:00 (GMT + 9)

The following is an excerpt from an article published by Mongabay:

The Port of Montevideo is the one most used by the ships of the Chinese fleet in Latin America, according to a report by the NGO OceanoSanos.

Although it is the government of Uruguay that determines who can use the services of the port, there is another key actor: the maritime agencies that are the legal representatives of the ship owner in the foreign country.

Image: Wikipedia

In the Port of Montevideo, the company Verny S.A is the main maritime agency in assisting Chinese-flagged vessels, some of which have a history of illegal fishing and human rights violations.

Every year, a huge fleet of about 300 Chinese-flagged vessels fish off the South American seas. It repeats a route that goes from the South Atlantic, off Argentina, to the outskirts of the Galapagos, in the Pacific, passing through Chile and Peru. In their trajectories, some vessels have been caught fishing illegally and some have even been accused of human rights violations. For these reasons, in addition to the enormous amounts of fishing resources that are caught by these boats and that often go unreported, the operations of the Chinese fleet in the region are a matter of concern for scientists, marine conservation specialists, and even authorities.

Image: Linkedin

According to an investigation carried out by the Argentine NGO, OceanoSanos, in the region, the main port used by the Chinese fleet is Montevideo, in Uruguay, which is also used by Spanish, Korean and Panamanian vessels, among others. Annually, this port terminal receives, on average, about 300 foreign fishing boats.

According to the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, Uruguay is among the top 25 countries in the world in terms of efforts to counter illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. And it is that this country is one of the signatories of the United Nations Agreement on Port State Measures (AMERP), which obliges the Port of Montevideo to only give access to ships that prove that all their catches were legal and reported.

Photo: Mongabay/Port Authority Montevideo

But is this really effective? Experts question this since the Port of Montevideo, the only one with a free port regime in the region, which means more lax tax regulations, is one of the most visited globally by transshipment ships which, as has been recognized the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), encourage illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. These are large refrigerated vessels, also called reefers, that receive fishing from smaller vessels on the high seas, allowing them to empty their cargo without having to return to the mainland, so that they can continue fishing uninterruptedly for long periods of time.

This activity of transferring the fish from one ship to another is one of the most used strategies for illegal fishing, says the FAO, considering that in the holds of refrigerated ships the catch from numerous ships is mixed, preventing it from being tracked.

Photo: Mongabay/Milko Schvartzman

Mongabay Latam, with the support of the Uruguayan newspaper Sudestada, accessed information from the Port of Montevideo and verified that fishing boats and reefers with a history of illegal fishing have arrived there. In addition, the port terminal has also received fleets reported for labor abuse and human trafficking.

"We have detected cases of labor abuses on ships that arrive at the Port of Montevideo, such as excessive working hours without rest periods, disparities in wages, informality in contracts, and physical and verbal abuse," says Jessica Sparks, a labor abuse researcher at Ports from the University of Nottingham. Even, according to figures from the Uruguayan Prefecture, a total of 59 deceased crew members were disembarked in the port between 2013 and 2021.

Chinese jiggers mooring in Montevideo.Photo: Milko Schvartzman

Although it is the government of Uruguay that determines who can use the port's services, there is another actor that is also gaining importance and has been less identified so far. Maritime agencies are the representatives of foreign fishing vessels in the country and who make all their efforts against the Uruguayan state to be able to enter the Port of Montevideo.

The company Verny SA is the maritime agency that appears most frequently associated with foreign ships with a history of illegal fishing and labor abuses. (continues...)

Author/Source :  Fermin Koop, Michelle Carrere / Mongabay |  Read the full article by clicking the link here


 Print


Click to know how to advertise in FIS
MORE NEWS
China
Mar 29, 07:40 (GMT + 9):
Southeast Pacific Squid Index: Giant squid (dosidicus gigas)
Canada
Mar 29, 07:10 (GMT + 9):
Cooke Aquaculture Named One of Atlantic Canada’s Top Employers
France
Mar 29, 07:00 (GMT + 9):
Other Media | The Fishing Daily: French Minister Urges Dialogue Over UK Expansion of Marine Protected Areas
Thailand
Mar 29, 07:00 (GMT + 9):
Thai Union Collaborates to Achieve Zero Wastewater Discharge and Establish an Industry Learning Center
Russian Federation
Mar 29, 07:00 (GMT + 9):
Russia and China Combat Illegal Fishing: Electronic Certificates of Legality for Catches
United Kingdom
Mar 29, 07:00 (GMT + 9):
Brexit costs Scotland up to USD 126.09 million-a-year in lost salmon exports
Japan
Mar 29, 03:00 (GMT + 9):
Driftnet fishing for salmon and trout starts early. Agreement with Russia
Russian Federation
Mar 29, 01:00 (GMT + 9):
Will the Russian Far East be the country with the most snow crabs in 2025?
Viet Nam
Mar 29, 01:00 (GMT + 9):
Shrimp exports from Ecuador are facing many challenges
Australia
Mar 28, 21:10 (GMT + 9):
IN BRIEF - At WTO, Australia seeks details on India's fisheries plan
Croatia
Mar 28, 21:00 (GMT + 9):
IN BRIEF - Cromaris business results in 2023
United States
Mar 28, 07:20 (GMT + 9):
AQUA Cultured Foods Partners with Ginkgo Bioworks to Optimize Alt-Seafood Production
United States
Mar 28, 07:00 (GMT + 9):
Seafood Expo Global Announced Finalists of the 2024 Seafood Excellence Global Awards
Norway
Mar 28, 07:00 (GMT + 9):
Borealis and AKVA group launch groundbreaking Polarcirkel™ workboat hull crafted from renewable feedstock-based plastic
Viet Nam
Mar 28, 07:00 (GMT + 9):
China & HK imported 75 million USD of Vietnamese pangasius



Lenguaje
FEATURED EVENTS
  
TOP STORIES
Clipfish challenges in Brazil: Port bureaucracy stops millions worth
Brazil More and more clipfish containers are being stopped in Brazilian ports. - Complicated regulations make market access challenging, to say the least, say Norwegian exporters who risk large losses. Bra...
Catches in the Sea of Okhotsk and Bering Sea
Russia Fed. Situational update as of 03/24/2024 Source: Stockfile FIS Sea of Okhotsk (pollock) According to OSM data in the Sea of Okhotsk, pollock catch (industrial and coastal fisheries) as of March 24, 20...
Productive Development of the Fishing Activity
Peru Fishing Sector Bulletin - January 2024 The landing of hydrobiological resources registered a negative interannual variation of 62.7%, as a result of the lower landing of fishing resources for indirec...
NGO Sues UK Government Over International Fishing Quotas
United Kingdom Blue Marine Foundation, a charity dedicated to restoring the ocean to health, has launched legal proceedings over the government’s decision to set fishing opportunities, for more than half UK st...
 

Maruha Nichiro Corporation
Nichirei Corporation - Headquarters
Pesquera El Golfo S.A.
Ventisqueros - Productos del Mar Ventisqueros S.A
Wärtsilä Corporation - Wartsila Group Headquarters
ITOCHU Corporation - Headquarters
BAADER - Nordischer Maschinenbau Rud. Baader GmbH+Co.KG (Head Office)
Inmarsat plc - Global Headquarters
Marks & Spencer
Tesco PLC (Supermarket) - Headquarters
Sea Harvest Corporation (PTY) Ltd. - Group Headquarters
I&J - Irvin & Johnson Holding Company (Pty) Ltd.
AquaChile S.A. - Group Headquarters
Pesquera San Jose S.A.
Nutreco N.V. - Head Office
CNFC China National Fisheries Corporation - Group Headquarters
W. van der Zwan & Zn. B.V.
SMMI - Sunderland Marine Mutual Insurance Co., Ltd. - Headquarters
Icicle Seafoods, Inc
Starkist Seafood Co. - Headquearters
Trident Seafoods Corp.
American Seafoods Group LLC - Head Office
Marel - Group Headquarters
SalMar ASA - Group Headquarters
Sajo Industries Co., Ltd
Hansung Enterprise Co.,Ltd.
BIM - Irish Sea Fisheries Board (An Bord Iascaigh Mhara)
CEFAS - Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science
COPEINCA ASA - Corporacion Pesquera Inca S.A.C.
Chun Cheng Fishery Enterprise Pte Ltd.
VASEP - Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters & Producers
Gomes da Costa
Furuno Electric Co., Ltd. (Headquarters)
NISSUI - Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Ltd. - Group Headquarters
FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization - Fisheries and Aquaculture Department (Headquarter)
Hagoromo Foods Co., Ltd.
Koden Electronics Co., Ltd. (Headquarters)
A.P. Møller - Maersk A/S - Headquarters
BVQI - Bureau Veritas Quality International (Head Office)
UPS - United Parcel Service, Inc. - Headquarters
Brim ehf (formerly HB Grandi Ltd) - Headquarters
Hamburg Süd Group - (Headquearters)
Armadora Pereira S.A. - Grupo Pereira Headquarters
Costa Meeresspezialitäten GmbH & Co. KG
NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Headquarters)
Mowi ASA (formerly Marine Harvest ASA) - Headquarters
Marubeni Europe Plc -UK-
Findus Ltd
Icom Inc. (Headquarter)
WWF Centroamerica
Oceana Group Limited
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Ajinomoto Co., Inc. - Headquarters
Friosur S.A. - Headquarters
Cargill, Incorporated - Global Headquarters
Benihana Inc.
Leardini Pescados Ltda
CJ Corporation  - Group Headquarters
Greenpeace International - The Netherlands | Headquarters
David Suzuki Foundation
Fisheries and Oceans Canada -Communications Branch-
Mitsui & Co.,Ltd - Headquarters
NOREBO Group (former Ocean Trawlers Group)
Natori Co., Ltd.
Carrefour Supermarket - Headquarters
FedEx Corporation - Headquarters
Cooke Inc. - Group Headquarters
AKBM - Aker BioMarine ASA
Seafood Choices Alliance -Headquarter-
Austevoll Seafood ASA
Walmart | Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Supermarket) - Headquarters
New Japan Radio Co.Ltd (JRC) -Head Office-
Gulfstream JSC
Marine Stewardship Council - MSC Worldwide Headquarters
Royal Dutch Shell plc (Headquarter)
Genki Sushi Co.,Ltd -Headquarter-
Iceland Pelagic ehf
AXA Assistance Argentina S.A.
Caterpillar Inc. - Headquarters
Tiger Brands Limited
SeaChoice
National Geographic Society
AmazonFresh, LLC - AmazonFresh

Copyright 1995 - 2024 Seafood Media Group Ltd.| All Rights Reserved.   DISCLAIMER