Angelica Enciso L.
Newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday, February 8, 2022, p. eleven
Yesterday began the ban on Mexican vessels from the Gulf of Mexico from passing to the ports of the United States, due to the negative certification granted last August by the fisheries section of the National Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, for its acronym in English), which explained that the sanction is given because in several years Mexican fishermen illegally caught red snapper in US waters, which also causes the incidental death of sea turtles.
Given this, the National Aquaculture and Fisheries Commission (Conapesca) only issued a statement on January 21, in which it said that in order to prevent the entry into force of the restriction announced for February 7, a consultation and communication
with dependencies and with the fishing industry. Since January 12, when NOAA reported that the sanction would come into force, the body’s position was sought by telephone, but there was no response.
In giving its negative certification, in August 2021, NOAA maintained that there is a continued inability of Mexico to combat unauthorized fishing by small vessels in US waters. He explained that they intercepted 287 boats on suspicion of illegal fishing, which led to 248 cases, and were handed over to the Mexican government, but the illegal passage of the boats was not stopped.
The sanction consists of the prohibition of vessels from accessing the ports of the United States and having the services that are granted there. NOAA noted that the United States would work with Mexico to support its actions on issues identified in 2019 and 2021 to restore that country’s port privileges when action has been taken in Mexico. In Tamaulipas there are 10,134 coastal fishermen and 1,214 high-altitude fishermen.
From boat to plate
The organization Oceana Mexico said that the closure of ports will affect fishermen who do adhere to the law and Conapesca has not presented a plan to reverse the sanctions. He indicated that a first step would be to approve the traceability standard that allows tracing the fish from the ship to plate
and prevent markets from closing.
Esteban García-Peña, director of Fisheries at Oceana, explained that there are riverside and medium-altitude fishermen who no longer find red snapper and snapper in Tamaulipas, they enter the waters of the neighboring country, they have been arrested and deported. He indicated that the fishermen go to these waters because the species on this side have already been depleted, and this illustrates the problem of the lack of restoration of the fisheries.
