BUENOS AIRES – On a balmy January night, an Argentine coast guard ship’s radio ?picked up garbled Mandarin broadcast from nearby boats.
They were among some 200 Chinese fishing vessels that spend months at a time each year near the South American country’s waters, hunting primarily for catch to feed the world’s largest squid market.
The size of the flotilla has increased by nearly 50% over the last decade. In that time, Buenos Aires has bulked up its surveillance to ensure the fleet doesn’t fish in the exclusive economic zone where Argentina controls all maritime resources.
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