The Regional Government said yesterday that the alert to the presence of several Chinese fishing vessels in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Azores was a case of falsification of data from the Automatic Identification System (AIS).
In a statement, the Azorean government said that the situation, which occurred to the south and southwest of Flores, was alerted last Wednesday at 10.30 a.m., and the authorities immediately began an inspection and patrol mission.
According to the Regional Government, “It was 10.30on Wednesday when the inspection service of the Regional Secretariat for the Sea and Fisheries alerted the Fisheries Control and Surveillance Center of the Directorate-General for Natural Resources, Safety and Maritime Services, to the existence of 16 vessels flying the flag of the People’s Republic of China to the south of the island of Flores, identified in Marine Traffic by land-based AIS as being fishing vessels and which were apparently behaving in a way that was not compatible with fishing activities and operations”.
Following the alert, the naval and air resources of the entities participating in the Integrated System for the Surveillance, Inspection, and Control of Fishing Activities (SIFICAP) were immediately activated.
The Navy sent a semi-rigid from the Flores Maritime Police“to make a first approach,” and the Portuguese Air Force sent a P3 plane “to monitor the identified area.”

“Nevertheless, to better monitor the situation and its evolution, the satellite services of the EuropeanMaritimeSafetyAgency have been requested to provide access/images from the Copernicus service,” adds the Azorean executive.
The naval unit of the Local Command of the Flores Maritime Police was at the scene and “did not find any vessels”.
The Portuguese Air Force aircraft also “flew over the area beyond the reference area, including up to the limits of the national EEZ in the Azores sub-area, and did not find any ships in this group, which suggests that this is AIS ‘spoofing’”, admitted the regional government,
The inspections, “following the exemplary commitment of resources by the entities participating in SIFICAP”, were concluded at 8.30pm on Wednesday.
“It is important to convey the success and the exceptional response and communication capacity between regional and national entities, with competence in monitoring and inspecting the Azorean sea, making it possible, in less than 12 hours, to certify the safety of the Azorean EEZ,” said the Azorean executive.
Many people shared images on social media, taken from the Marine Traffic website, showing the presence of Chinese-flagged vessels off Flores on different days and at different times.
One Flores resident warned of “an illegal ‘invasion’ by a Chinese fishing fleet”.
“There are more than a dozen Chinese-flagged fishing vessels stationed a few miles off the island’s coast and in the Portuguese EEZ, presumably trawling for several protected species (such as tuna, which Portuguese fishermen are forbidden to catch),” said José Madeira.
The Flores resident called the situation “unprecedented”.
“This is the first time that a Chinese fishing fleet has blatantly violated Portugal’s EEZ, which is naturally making local residents and fishermen very nervous and worried,” he said.

in Diário Insular-José Lourenço-director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.