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Fishing vessel stuck in Ushuaia due to unpaid wages

The 'Tai An' was stuck in the port of Ushuaia due to a crew strike demanding outstanding wages. The dispute has been registered with the Ministry of Labor and Employment of Tierra del Fuego under file MTE-E 32600-2025. The seafarers were reporting non-payment of wages, delays in pension contributions, and the absence of sworn statements, which affected their social security coverage. The strike affected approximately 160 crew members, who were demanding full payment of their wages. According to union representatives, partial payments have been made, but the claim remained active. The vessel's owner, Liu Zhijiang, attributed the situation to financial difficulties and judicial embargoes, although he did not submit supporting documentation to labor authorities. The vessel remained moored in Ushuaia as of Sep 10, 2025, while a mandatory conciliation process convened by the Ministry of Labour was taking place. Report with photo: https://www.ushuaianoticias.com/2025/09/09/el-buque-tai-an-permanece-amarrado-en-ushuaia-por-un-conflicto-salarial/

Catch of toothfish confiscated

The Fisheries and Prefectural Authorities carried out an operation in the port of Ushuaia to confiscate the catch of toothfish from the 'Tai An' in a surprising operation carried out in the last few hours in the port of Ushuaia. The vessel, belonging to the Prodesur company, has been the center of a controversy after being surprised with a shipment of toothfish valued at 4 million dollars. Upon arrival at the port of Ushuaia by order of the Naval Prefecture, about 163 tons of toothfish were discovered. The situation was aggravated by juvenile specimens of the species which were found among the cargo, the capture of which is strictly prohibited globally in order to preserve its population. The cargo seizure operation was carried out under the supervision of the Undersecretariat of Fisheries and Agriculture of the Nation, which detected serious environmental faults. The vessel, owned by Chinese businessman Liu Zhijiang, lacked any extra quota authorized for the capture of these specimens. The legal implications of this incident have been immediate, with the resignation of several national government officials involved in the scandal, including Julián Suárez, Pablo Ferrara Raisberg and Guillermo Abdala Bertiche. These resignations underlined the seriousness of the matter and the authorities' commitment to legality and the environment. The National Institute of Fisheries Research and Development (INIDEP) has a report prepared, stating that between February 4 and March 11 the TAI-AN vessel “captured a total of 3,178 tons of fish, consisting of 1,975 tons of pollock, 892 tons of hoke and 175 tons of toothfish, which together represent 96% of the total. The report points out that between February 4 and March 11, the vessel captured 175 tons of toothfish, in seven fishing hauls out of a total of 72, carried out with a bottom trawl net in the grid. statistic 5462 that is part of the Juvenile Toothfish Protection Area (APJMN) at depths that averaged 450 meters From the analysis it appears that the catches of toothfish were obtained through a particular operation of the vessel during the trip, carried out repetitively despite having exceeded the catch limit of the species allowed per trip for said vessel (5 tons), which suggests a manifest intention regarding the fishing of the species: the vessel entered the APJMN every 5/6 days making a set with a bottom trawl in a geographical position almost identical to the previous occasions. On Feb 10, the vessel, after a haul in which it captured 12 tons of toothfish, was already in violation in accordance with CFP Resolution 9/23 (maximum catch of toothfish of 5 tons per fishing trip) , which is why it should not have returned to the APJMN to carry out fishing operations, much less repetitively in positions very close to the one where it had obtained excessive catches of the species. This behavior, in our opinion, demonstrates a clear intention aimed at capturing toothfish. The ship used bottom trawling at depths close to 450 meters in the APJMN, which is not allowed according to the details of CFP Resolution 12/21. As a consequence of the fishing activity with bottom trawl nets at depths prohibited for the use of fishing gear within the APJMN, a proportion of juvenile toothfish (55%) was captured higher than the limit established by current regulations (20 % CFP Resolution 12/19). -Taking into account that the 'Tai An' does not have CITC of toothfish since 2020, the vessel, in addition to failing to comply with the Federal Fisheries Law (24,922) by obtaining catches of the species in a directed manner without having an enabling quota, would have violated three additional regulations by fishing with a bottom trawl at less than 800 meters deep in the APJMN, fishing in a targeted manner for the species at depths lower than that permitted south of 54°S (800 meters) and capturing a proportion of juveniles (55%), much higher than that allowed in each trip. Report with photo: https://www.surenio.com.ar/decomisan-el-cargamento-del-buque-tai-an/

Controversial factory trawler detained in Ushuaia

The controversy unleashed by the actions of the 'Tai An' vessel, reported for illegally fishing 142 tons of toothfish, was detained in the port of Ushuaia by a commission from the Undersecretariat of Fisheries and Prefecture after it had detected a serious environmental fault. The 'Tai An' is a ship of Chinese origin, but flagged Argentine by the company Prodesur, belonging to businessman Liu Zhijiang, a Chinese man from Argentina, whose company is based in Ushuaia. The illegal catch led to the resignations of several officials after one of them said he had been pressured to allow illegal fishing from this vessel. The commission found very young specimens of toothfish, a species protected with a fishing quota. The factory trawler produces surimi and is allowed to fish for everything except toothfish, shrimp and quota species, such as toothfish. As a result of the controversy unleashed by the ship, the Director of Fisheries Control and Inspection, Julián Suárez, resigned from his position after denouncing that from the Foreign Ministry he had received pressures to ignore the illegal activity of the Chinese ship. Suárez had requested the ship's route records and had communicated with the inspector on board, thanks to which he detected that he had 142 tons of toothfish on board. The illegal activity has been carried out since February.