The Chilean navy has been keeping a close eye on traffic through the Strait of Magellan as the largely Chinese fleet of squid jiggers transits from the South Pacific to Atlantic waters for the fishery in international waters that borders the Falklands and Argentinian EEZs.
The latest in a series of monitoring operations, a few days before Christmas a Chilean navy Dauphin helicopter based at Punta Arenas conducted a patrol covering the Punta Delgada and Primera Angostura sector to monitor a convoy of eight foreign fishing vessels that transited, as they usually do at this time of year, through the jurisdictional waters of the Third Naval Zone, from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, crossing through the Strait of Magellan to exit towards the Eastern Boca.
‘For this crossing the respective ship agencies carry out the necessary coordination with the maritime authority of the Chilean Navy, establishing through the pilotage and pilotage office the Maritime Government the boarding of pilots and establishment of convoys, which are currently carried out with eight vessels, in addition to carrying out permanent control through the network of lighthouses, dependent Sea Mayor’s Offices and Port Captaincies, where the Operations Department of the Maritime Government is in charge of control operations,’ said he head of Maritime Operations Department of the Maritime Government of Punta Arenas.
During this period of fleet crossing, the Maritime Authority in conjunction with the Third Naval Zone carry out deployments of various control operations of the vessels of the foreign fishing fleet, which is part of the multi-faceted effort to safeguard human life at sea, manage maritime traffic control and protect maritime interests.
