Oceana, an international marine conservation organization, alerted about the increase of Chinese fishing vessels that have been calling at Chilean ports located in Arica, Iquique, Valparaíso and Talcahuano, reporting an increase of 1,628% in less than a year.
The above is in line with figures extracted from the public platform Global Fishing Watch by ArtisOnal, a Peruvian entity that promotes data transparency, which would account for the existence of a notable change in entries to South America.
“In 2023 and 2024, the Peruvian ports of Paita, Chimbote, Callao and Pisco received 155 and 205 Chinese vessels, respectively, while Chilean ports registered only five and seven, respectively. The situation changed drastically this year. The Chinese vessels stopped calling in Peru and came to Chile, totaling 121 entries to date,” communicated Oceana.
In this regard, Eloy Aroni, fisheries director of ArtisOnal, stated that “in 2020, several cases of Asian vessels turning off their automatic identification systems at the limit of Peru’s Exclusive Economic Zone were detected, which then entered to use Peruvian port services. The above motivated the strengthening of regulation by requiring satellite positioning devices from Peru, but the Chinese fleet, instead of adapting to the rule, used a legal loophole, requesting emergency entries.”
Aroni highlighted that they managed to close the legal loophole at the end of 2024 and since then they no longer register entries of Chinese ships to Peru. “This fleet is not willing to make its activity visible, which motivated it to seek other ports with still flexible regulations,” he noted, adding that “in inspections in Peru in the last four years, about 70 crew members in critical health condition were disembarked and six died.”
“That international vessels transit within the Exclusive Economic Zone of countries or call at ports is not an illegal activity per se. However, the problem is that in Peru this fleet received complaints of illegal activities, including fishing or turning off their satellite positioning devices, which is illegal. Therefore, it is essential that the National Fisheries Service and the Chilean Navy are provided with resources and technology,” commented César Astete, director of the fishing campaigns of Oceana in Chile.
Recently, artisanal fishermen from the Tarapacá Region alerted that Chinese boats, especially during the night, turn off their lights and satellite positioning systems, in addition to reporting that they hinder the flow of jumbo squid and squid, preventing their capture.
In 2020, Oceana issued for the first time an alert about the possible illegal activity of Chinese vessels, reporting that many of them turned off their Satellite Identification Systems (AIS). Since then, Ecuador, Peru and Chile have maintained a monitoring and control system, demanded by artisanal fishing, the community and various civil society organizations, in order to ensure that this fleet does not carry out fishing activities within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
It is worth remembering that the International Maritime Organization (IMO) requires the use of AIS for vessels operating in international waters in order to avoid collisions.
Complementarily, some countries require their vessels to have the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS), with which regulatory bodies can track fleets within their Exclusive Economic Zones and detect illegal activities.
“It is an extremely important challenge for the authorities of the Navy and Sernapesca to control the high number of vessels that are calling at the country’s ports and navigating within our Exclusive Economic Zone. It is necessary for the authorities to observe what happened in Peru and analyze the existing gaps in Chile. We must identify why the vessels left the ports of Peru and now prefer Chile. That answer, we still do not have it,” concluded Astete.
Authorities
The Chilean Navy, through the Dirección General del Territorio Marítimo y de Marina Mercante (Directemar), together with the Servicio Nacional de Pesca y Acuicultura (Sernapesca) communicated that they maintain an “active and permanent surveillance to control maritime traffic in our national spaces, complying with national and international regulations.”
In this regard, the national director (s) of Sernapesca, Esteban Donoso, indicated that “all vessels that call at our ports are inspected, both in transit to the ports and at the time of calling, where an on-board inspection is carried out in a coordinated manner with other organizations such as Customs, Health, SAG, PDI and the Maritime Authority to verify different aspects.”
“Particularly, we verify the navigation tracks, the correct transmission of the instruments and the holds to verify the condition of fishing or non-fishing that they have declared. All have passed and must pass through this inspection,” he added.
For his part, the director of the Dirección de Seguridad y Operaciones Marítimas of the Navy (Dirsomar), Coast Rear Admiral Sigfrido Ramírez, indicated that the Maritime Authority is permanently carrying out inspection tasks of these fleets. In this sense, he stated that the inspections are carried out with air-naval and surface means, in addition to surveillance with satellite means. To date, “we have no evidence that fishing operations have been carried out within the Exclusive Economic Zone,” he emphasized.
Likewise, Directemar communicated that “as of September 30, Sernapesca has received 157 requests for calls at national ports during this year, of which 139 have been authorized and another 18 have been rejected for not presenting all the requested background information. Of the authorized calls, all vessels have been subjected to on-board inspections, finding no regulatory non-compliance to date.”
Agreements
Chile reinforced its commitment against illegal fishing by signing in 2009 the Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA), an international regulation that seeks to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
This measure complements the national legislation in force since 2004, which regulates the use of ports by foreign-flagged fishing vessels, establishing stricter controls on their access to Chilean maritime terminals.
However, Sernapesca clarified that, following China’s entry into the Amerp at the beginning of 2025, there has been a significant increase this year in the number of port call requests from that country, rising from 8 registered in 2024 to 130 requests received to date.
“Once Sernapesca receives the port entry request, as the competent authority, it reviews that the foreign vessel complies with all the requirements established by current regulations, verifying, for example, the navigation track to rule out that it has fished in national waters, and once it calls at port, a commission of public services is organized to inspect the vessel,” concluded the Directemar report.
