The US says the drug cartel is responsible for the chronic problem of illegal fishing in the Gulf of Mexico

MEXICO CITY (AP) – For years, U.S. authorities and fishermen have complained about illegal red snapper fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, and now it has been revealed who is behind the lucrative trade: a Mexican drug cartel.

The US Department of the Treasury announced sanctions on Tuesday against members of the Gulf drug cartel, which operates in the border towns of Reynosa and Matamoros, across from McAllen and Brownsville, Texas.

Although fishing and drug gangs may seem like an unlikely combination, it makes perfect sense for a criminal organization.

The department says the cartel uses fishing boats to facilitate drug and migrant smuggling; along the way, boats catch tons of red snapper, a commercially useful but endangered species. Boats usually launch from Playa Bagdad, east of Matamoros, on the Gulf coast.

“The Gulf Cartel illegally trades red snapper and shark species through a ‘lancha’ based in Playa Bagdad,” the department said. “In addition to its use in IUU (illegal, unregulated or unreported) fishing in US waters, lanchas are used to transport illegal drugs and immigrants to the United States.”

To add insult to injury, these Mexican boats, usually based out of Playa Bagdad, sell their catch to Mexican border towns, where they are sometimes shipped to Texas for resale in the US market.

This happened while US fishermen had to respect strict seasonal limits or closures designed to protect large numbers of fish.

“Since the fishing of red snapper and shark species is under strict restrictions in the United States, and because those species are abundant in US waters, Mexican fishermen cross into US waters to fish with these lanchas,” the department said.

“They then take their fish back to lancha camps in Mexico, where the product is eventually sold and, in many cases, shipped to the United States,” it continued. “This project earns millions a year through lancha camps. In addition, it also leads to the death of other marine animals that are “unwittingly caught” in the long lines of hooks used by boats.

This is not the first time cartels have been involved in illegal fishing in Mexico. Experts say that some drug groups are involved in illegal gillnet fishing of totoaba in the Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of ​​Cortez, which threatens the endangered species, the vaquita marina.

Those named under Tuesday’s sanctions – which freeze any of their American assets – include the Gulf cartel’s local bosses in Playa Bagdad, and two owners of fishing camps there.

The problem of illegal fishing became so bad that in 2022, the US government banned Mexican fishing vessels from entering US ports in the Gulf of Mexico, arguing that the Mexican government had not done enough to prevent its boats from illegally fishing in US waters.

Mexican fishing boats in the Gulf “are not allowed to enter US ports, they will be denied port access and services,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wrote in a 2022 report. According to NOAA’s September 10, 2024 report, those limits still exist. in the area.

Small Mexican boats often use long prohibited lines or nets to lure snapper into US waters, which can harm other marine life, such as sharks.

NOAA said in a previous report that the US Coast Guard had seized dozens of Mexican boats in the Gulf, including repeat pirates that had been interdicted multiple times since 2014.

It noted that the United States imported nearly five tons of freshly caught frozen snapper from Mexico in 2018, raising concerns that “these imports may include fish illegally harvested in US waters.”

_____

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at