More than four years into the six-year term, the challenges of Mexican fishing are becoming more acute. The authorities have failed to transform the sector and in the eyes of artisanal and deep-sea fishermen, businessmen, former officials and current officials of the National Aquaculture and Fisheries Commission (Conapesca) consulted, this institution is absent from playing its rightful role.
A thorough restructuring, ending corruption and returning Mexico to a fishing power, were three of the promises that Raúl Elenes Ángulo, who was the first head of Conapesca, a decentralized body of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Sader), offered through the media prior to the beginning of the current federal government.
Despite the declaration of intent, today the fishing sector demands authorities that are present in the various areas where it has a responsibility.
Who's watching?
It's March 23 and the shrimp ban begins in the Pacific. This morning dozens of deep-sea anglers are mooring their boats at the “Medrano” docks in Mazatlán to end a season that has not yielded the expected results.
The first trip is usually the most important and the one that gives a taste of what the rest of the season will be like. It is at the same time a thermometer of the respect that has been had for the ban. And this season he successfully announced the low catches for the coming months.
“The fishing season begins. Two weeks, normally, smaller boats before us do thousands and thousands of smaller boats. They go out to sea. Who orders them, I don't know, but they go out to sea, illegally,” explains Miguel Rousse Acosta, general manager of Producers of the Sea of Mexico, a company founded by 96 partners, which brings together more than 350 shrimp boats. About 70% of the Sinaloa fleet.
This has resulted in the fact that if 10 years ago a ship caught between 7 and 8 tons on its first trip, now it only captures 3 or 4 tons.
Rousse explains that the catches of those who respect the ban not only decline because of poaching, but because shrimp move, in reaction to the pangas that come before the end of the ban.
“The sea belongs to Mexicans and the authority has that power and obligation to take care of the interests of all, to take care of the protection of those of the seas and Conapesca, by giving you a permit to fish either in Bahia or on the high seas, it has the obligation to enforce the rules and laws. So that's what we ask for: inspection and surveillance, ordering,” says the businessman in an interview with Causa Natura Media.
Shrimp boats that caught between 25 and 35 tons per season lost the thrust they had before on their first trip, with a drop of up to 50% this season in some companies, according to captains and motorcyclists of the boats interviewed.
“What we all already know. It is assumed that we are respecting the ban, we are all inside, but there are others, the pangas, let's say, that it is the one that is attacking us, mainly, changuerism. When we leave, the captures go down quite a bit,” said Felipe Romero, a motorist on the boat Mariscos 14.
At the mercy of pirates
Not only is poaching an inconvenience to catches, it also poses a threat to anglers once on the high seas.
Captain Francisco Ávila leaves Mazatlán to fish in the north of Baja California Sur, in the waters of the Pacific. He reports that a few years ago they started fishing in a small area where they have started to encounter illegal armed fishermen.
“They displaced us, they left us a very small area to fish in Guerrero Negro, which is a very productive shrimp area, and now because illegal pangas and armed people have displaced us from those places,” he says.
They displaced us, they left us a very small area to fish in Guerrero Negro, which is a very productive shrimp area, and now because illegal pangas and armed people have displaced us from those places, he says.
Although they have not been robbed, they claim that fishing spaces end up being ceded to avoid problems.
“And it tells you the Mexican Navy and it doesn't do anything true or Conapesca doesn't, no, no, I told Conapesca what's happening to us back in Baja California and everyone ignores it,” he says.
During the making of this report, Causa Natura Media requested an interview with representatives of the institution by telephone and in person at the headquarters, without a favorable response.
No resources to work
Although the number of inspectors “has never been enough”, former commissioner Elenes dismissed around thirty officers, thus making it a very painful period for the work of the inspectors, according to a source within the institution who asked that his identity be kept.
Last year, Conapesca had an average of 168 inspectors to face inspection and surveillance challenges, according to a request for information via the National Transparency Platform.
This is the lowest number since 2015, in a country with 11,122 kilometers of continental coastline.
A fishing officer who has asked that his identity be kept anonymous says that officers have difficulty carrying out their work due to the lack of budget that exists within the institution.
From December to the date of the interview, in mid-March, the officer points out that he has not been paid for field support, the amount of which consists of 5 thousand pesos or what is equal to 250 pesos to eat per day for 20 working days per month.
“That money was used for food, but they don't pay for accommodation, they don't pay me, for example, if I have to wash my car, if a tire gets stuck, I have to pay for it from my bag, there are several expenses that I make from my bag. I suppose there's no budget,” he explains.
The officer reports that they provide him with 319 liters of gasoline per month, which are insufficient for land trips.
In the first four years of the current administration, 65,975 land tours were carried out, a decrease of 19% compared to the same period last six years.
As for the water tours, the officer says that there is not enough gas to do the tours.
” The services haven't been provided, there's no gas and well, we don't have to work with practically. We don't have boats for the tours. It may be that we have an engine, but if they don't service it, then both routes break down, because I'm not going to put in my bag to fix a work engine.”
This precariousness in carrying out the essential functions entrusted to it sometimes compromises its independence to be able to draw up records, through which the agency attempts to impose sanctions on those who have transgressed the law.
“Unfortunately, what we have been doing is asking fishermen's cooperatives for support. To people interested in surveillance, but that's not ideal because they can take it as a favor. So imagine me taking a walk on a beach, for example, and I don't have gas anymore. I tell the one from the fishermen's cooperative, and he says, I'll give you gas so you can do the tour and they give me the gas. I receive it for you. But if on this tour I find a fisherman from that cooperative, for example, who does not have a permit to fish and who is fishing. Well, what am I going to do, I have to make his report, but he's going to tell me I lent you the gas, as they say nobody pays to get hit,” says the officer, laughing and sadly.
Water tours in the first four years of López Obrador's presidency totaled 17,017, a drop of 72% compared to the same period of former president Enrique Peña Nieto.
No satellite monitoring
The largest vessels in Mexico are monitored by a satellite system that provides signals with information about the location, speed and position of the vessels and that has stopped working since January 30.
With this data from the Satellite Monitoring System for Fishing Vessels (Sismep), it is possible to have an eagle's eye with which to monitor what is happening at sea, to control those who respect the restrictions, those boats that violate non-fishing areas and even know if their behavior suggests that they are fishing.
This system is of “the greatest importance” for the fishing sector, since it is the most advanced technological tool. It avoids the commission of violations by vessels, which includes the country's main fleets, explains García Soto.
“One of the main objectives of Sismep is to help persuade this fleet and, of course, to warn, at an early stage, of the existence of signs that may indicate illegal fishing activity, a fishing activity that is not allowed, a prohibited fishing activity,” explains García Soto.
Although this monitoring for pangas does not yet exist, the country has had this system since 2004 and the carrying of the satellite is mandatory for larger boats with a stationary engine with a nominal power greater than 80 Hp (horsepower equivalent to 59.68 kilowatts), with a flat roof and a length greater than 10.5 meters.
“Sismep is a service that costs the Mexican State annually in an amount between 36 and 48 million pesos approximately, year after year, for 19 years or so. And it is a system that covered around 2,556 more or less vessels, which are monitored, that is, the entire Mexican medium-altitude and high-altitude fishing fleet,” García Soto points out.
A change in the provider of this service has left the country without service. This means that operation centers that previously had data to rely on are now blind.
“The authority initiated a bidding process, concluded it. It awarded the service to a provider other than the one that had been providing service to the Mexican government for the last 19 years at a higher cost than it cost us before, but in a very worrying way with less coverage than the system had before, what does this mean, that before we had a system that was contracted to monitor up to 2,100 ships, of which 2,566 ships were effectively monitored as of January of this year and as of today the contract, which has been concluded by the Mexican government, will only cover 1,800 ships”, details Garcia Soto.
This situation implies a loss in the capacity of at least 256 ships that were previously monitored by Sismep, in the change of courier from the company Astrum to Seguritech Privada, the reasons for the decline in coverage have not been explicit.
On the other hand, the new company's service starts with 300 boats and not with the 2,566 that were previously monitored. Although the idea is to scale up service coverage to more vessels, the process involves significant challenges in the midst of the precariousness that the institution is going through.
“There, a space for impunity, a space of concern, is created when it comes to a system that issued early warnings of ships accessing or entering prohibited fishing areas, of boats going out to fish under the restrictions, or of ships that are carrying out possible fishing operations in places or times where they should not be,” says García Soto.
These restricted areas are directly linked to the operation of the satellite system.
“These protected natural areas, of course, had a geofence that is an imaginary demarcation, installed on the devices and when a boat only navigated that protected natural area or that prohibited fishing area it sounded (an alert), the boat rang and it also sounded in Conapesca,” says a second officer interviewed for this work who asked to keep his name anonymous.
Good fishing, light and dark
Several fishermen consulted believe that the head of Conapesca, Octavio Almada, is a politician who invests his time in touring.
These circuits, in part, promote the provision of social support for fishermen called Bienesca. This is a component of the Sader Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Aquaculture Promotion program.
This is a transfer that in 2022 amounted to 7,200 pesos (this year of 7,500, an increase of 4%) that generates mixed positions.
In Mazatlán, the president of the cooperative Divers and Fishermen of the Pearl of the Pacific, Jorge Ramos, points out that this support is an aid that they did not receive in the previous six-year period.
“Well, that support is very good, the truth is that we have only been receiving that support for three years, because we never received any support because we weren't organized and we weren't organized because we simply couldn't walk in politics,” Ramos points out.
Of the 12 programs that in the past six-year period were aimed at promoting various aspects of fishing and aquaculture activity, one has been awarded in the current six-year term, Bienesca.
The amount and the annual amount have made some fishermen highlight that this delivery does not support the months that they are forced to stop due to restrictions.
“Symbolically, $7,000 for 6 months, because it's practically useless...”, says Captain Gustavo Navarro, who is dedicated to the shrimp fishery.
Navarro is asked how they earn their living during the closed months.
“Some of us are bricklayers, others are plumbers... and so we have to look for him wherever he is, under the rocks because then there is no money to survive the family, the schools,” he answers.
Last year, the institution supported 176,997 fishermen, with a budget of 1,326 million pesos, according to official data. But this does not prevent problems reaching all anglers.
In Playa Norte, Mazatlán, Edgar Moya, president of the Artisanal Fishermen's Cooperative of Playa Norte, returns from having gone fishing in the early morning. They are concerned that one of their fishermen has not received the Bienesca for 2022.
Despite coming to ask, they haven't received an answer that satisfies them.
“Yes, they received all the fishermen, but this past year, yes, the truth has diminished because, as far as the cooperative is concerned, I just need to be paid to you... and in the same way it has happened with another cooperative that is neighboring here and with us that if they are 14 members, they have only paid seven others are missing another seven or 8,” Moya points out.
For David Valenzuela, a snapper fisherman using sustainable caging in the La Sirena estuary, the fact that many fishermen are not in cooperatives, like the colleagues he works with every day, limits the possibilities of receiving federal support.
“We don't necessarily need to have a cooperative to give it to us. There are a lot of free fishermen who don't have the support and they are long-time fishermen, often it can do it because they lack the paperwork or several defects that arise there, so they don't give them the help or anything like that,” he said.
For Valenzuela, fishermen need support at least twice a year and he thinks that it would be ideal for the government to be aware of other needs that they carry, such as boats, motors and even life insurance.
However, the hand of the present administration is seen in artisanal fishermen. Moya indicates that their captures of snappers, cochito, croaker, and others are more accompanied by this support from the federal government, in contrast to what they receive from other state and municipal government orders.
Meanwhile, Ramos says that after a long struggle of years to legally establish themselves as a cooperative, it was not until the current six-year term that they have been recognized. Something that gives oyster fishermen calm to work with and greater support when seeking government support, he says.
This year, Bienesca's support is expected to reach 193,000 beneficiaries, with an investment of 1,448 million pesos, said Commissioner Octavio Almada during a presidential conference on February 27.
Advisory Committees
Advisory committees are participatory mechanisms where different sectors can make decisions about the management of a fishery.
Several participants in the advisory committees of Curvina Golfina in the Upper Gulf and Mero in the southeast of the country pointed out that these spaces have been forgotten with the arrival of the present administration.
The curvina advisory committee was installed in 2012 and reinstated in 2015, for the purpose of conservation and sustainable use of the resource, according to the report “Opportunities for Strengthening Governance in Mexican Fisheries” by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).
The last time this committee met was in January via Zoom, according to various sources consulted.
“In the case of curvina, what we have seen is that they have been working very well in past administrations, but in this new administration they stopped convening as they should, with that objective, with that responsibility of all parties,” says Carlos Alberto Tirado Pineda, president of the Board of Directors of the Regional Federation of Cooperative Fishermen's Societies of Biosphere Reserve.
This same situation is repeated in the Mero committee in the southeast of the country, resulting from a request in 2017 for its creation.
According to Ana María Frías, president of the Federation of Fishing, Tourism, Aquaculture and Artisanal Cooperatives of Yucatán, a couple of years have passed since the last time they met, but the fishing sector remains coordinated regardless of the relationship with the authority.
Frías points out that the pandemic of Covid 19 affected the coordination that took place in the committee and the meetings.
“Absolutely all of the activity was shut down. Since 2020 there has been no fishing, there has been no sale of products, there have been no exports, the plants closed, the fishermen only went from time to time to fish for what they were going to eat and part of this product was distributed among the population. And there was no official work in the fishing sector and most of us were left with the 'stay at home'”, he says.
Another reason why there has been no session is because the decisions of the grouper fishery sometimes transcend a twin space, such as the octopus advisory committee, explains Minerva Alonso, director in Mexico of the Center for Sustainable Development and Fisheries (Cedeesca).
“The partly reason why it hasn't been in session is because the State Fisheries Council and also the (consultative) Octopus Committee have been in session. Actually, one of the things that happens is that the actors that participate in both committees are practically the same,” explains Alonso, who maintains that they have met once a year.
The interest of the Mero committee is to discuss and analyze the main problems of this species in order to reach agreements that can then be presented to the State Council. However, one of the main challenges is the representation of Conapesca.
“The fact is that the state representation of Conapesca is not validated, that is, it does not have an official position right now and that has already happened several years for a good part of the year and this means that even if the person participates they do not have the voice of Conapesca and although the federal authorities of Conapesca have been invited repeatedly, they have not arrived. So I would say that Conapesca in this government has been practically absent,” says Alonso.
In this regard, the type of hiring of the civil servant influences, since they are paid for fees, they do not have all the powers to resolve issues that end up being sent to the headquarters of Conapesca in Mazatlán.
On the other hand, since octopus problems are more related to illegal fishing, most of the attention is directed to this fishery, while the focus on grouper has been limited to the research part, explains the director of Cedeesca, which is reflected in efforts to create shelters, with one in Yucatán, and another soon to be decreed in San Felipe.
Frías points out that he hopes that there will be a meeting of the committee soon: “We must meet soon because we have some pending work and now, because everything has returned to normal and we want to return to normal work, within the Committee it is time to resume”.
Lack of coordination
The authorities' consideration of the private sector has gone so far as to freeze communication.
Miguel Rousse Acosta points out that businessmen in Mazatlán were not notified about when the season would start until a day before and in the same way the start of the ban came unexpectedly.
The manager indicated that although the essential function of the institution is to comply with the law, “Conapesca cannot be an entity where they are just going to decree what is going to be done in the activity.” This work should be done with companies and social organizations in the sector, he says, as was the case in participatory tables that ended the present government.
“10 years ago, I remember that by that time we were already, not negotiating, seeing at work tables with Inapesca, with Conapesca, what is the best date to close the season and based on technical research by Inapesca 'you know that gentlemen there are no longer recruits or there are already roasted shrimp in the plants or I propose as a research institution that they should close on the 15th (of the month) '”, he says.
A technical provision that allowed businessmen to be able to organize themselves around the date and calculate the volumes of diesel they buy for their ships.
“You say. Well, I'm not going to give him 800,000, I'm going to give him 400,000 pesos so they can fish for just 15 days. Right now we found out a day before closing. I mean, he went last. Normally, ships will arrive with very little consumption. But if it had been the 15th (March) what would have happened, we would have been left with half a full tank that was already paid to the diesel distributor. In other words, what I'm going for is that that coordination, that participatory governance has been completely lost,” Rousse points out.
Budget
The budget affects all areas of Conapesca in a transverse way.
Once the government entered, the institution did not have the resources to support the actions it undertook.
In the last decade, in real terms (even taking away from inflation), the institution's highest allocated budget was in 2015.
If you add the budget for the first four years of President Enrique Peña Nieto's six-year term against the first four years of the current administration, the Conapesca budget fell 50.89%.
One of the officers interviewed reports that the fall in resources over the current six-year term was drastically reflected in their daily work.
“That's logical, it's inevitable, it means being less efficient, having less presence and, of course, that increases illegal fishing,” he points out.
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