Ocean patrol vessel ARA “Storni”, under the Operational Control of the Joint Maritime Command dependent on the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces, arrived at the Mar del Plata Naval Base on January 30, thus ending a surveillance and control operation of the jurisdictional maritime spaces, called Grifón XXVI.
The unit of the Maritime Patrol Division of the Argentine Navy had set sail from the Mar del Plata Naval Base in order to carry out surveillance and control in waters under the jurisdiction and area adjacent to the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) at mile 201. In this way, the presence of the Argentine State is materialized in order to contribute to the preservation of the vital interests of the Nation.
Likewise, and as a secondary effort to the patrol boat, three control flights were carried out by a P-3C Orion aircraft, belonging to the Naval Exploration Squadron, dependent on the Naval Aviation Command.
These flights were used to monitor and surveil the eastern mouth of the Strait of Magellan and to control, together with the surface unit, the concentration of fishing vessels in the area adjacent to the EEZ. During Operation Grifon XXVI, more than four hundred fishing vessels were identified, some of them with a national flag and others foreign.
The Joint Maritime Command, with the participation of personnel and resources of the Argentine Navy, plays a key role in the exercise of sovereign rights, guaranteeing the protection of natural resources of the sea and monitoring compliance with the current legal framework in marine protected areas.
In this way, the decision and presence of the State in its jurisdictional waters is reaffirmed, guaranteeing early warning and strengthening the national defense system.