BienPesca is the only survivor of the 22 subsidy programs for the fishing sector that existed until the previous six-year period. The current government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador opted only for this economic support of 7,200 pesos per year.
Some anglers see this program as an opportunity to earn an income for the first time, since they had previously been excluded from subsidy programs. For others, the current austerity policy is giving the final blow to artisanal fishing.
Ernesto Gastélum, a fisherman from Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, said in an interview that Bienesca is insufficient for a sector with so many deficiencies.
Gastélum goes out to sea at six in the morning, when the sun has not yet risen and returns before sunset, at five in the afternoon. He is dedicated to the sea, from there he obtains his family support, but he does not want his children to dedicate themselves to this activity. The reason is insecurity and increasingly adverse economic conditions.
Fishing is less profitable than it was five years ago, he said.
Among the programs that disappeared are incentives for the purchase of fuel, modernization of fishing fleets; aquaculture development; works and studies; inspection and surveillance; capacity building; production chains; promotion of consumption; as well as the transformation and commercialization of products.
In addition to the elimination of subsidies, the federal government, through the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Commission (Conapesca), has been delayed in delivering resources this year, considering that the distribution in the previous years of 2020 and 2021 began in the month of March.
Due to the Mandate Revocation Consultation process, the Federation announced an advance in the support programs provided by the Ministry of Welfare. However, in the case of the fishing sector, the picture is not clear.
In addition, the program has operational weaknesses, since in the case of the Beneficiary Registers for the 2019 and 2020 Fiscal Years, the data of the beneficiaries, such as name, gender and federal entity, are not complete, so it is not possible to verify if the amounts were actually allocated to people in the sector in accordance with the Operating Rules.
Gastélum works in one of the areas with the highest fishing production in Mexico, and most of the communities near Puerto Peñasco depend on this activity for their livelihood.
Nationwide, fishing employs more than 213 thousand people, on more than 11 thousand 122 kilometers of coastal coastline, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI).
However, most coastal fishermen live “up to date”. The international organization Fund for the Defense of the Environment (EDF) carried out an evaluation of the social impact of coastal fishing in northeastern Mexico. The results show that fishermen have an average of seven years of schooling and in many communities their homes are not serviced.
The elimination of subsidies, Gastélum said, puts Mexican fishermen at a competitive disadvantage compared to foreign markets.
“In Peru, for example, diesel is subsidized for fishermen, who buy it at the equivalent of 8 Mexican pesos per liter. Here it is at almost 25 pesos. And when the Peruvian product arrives, obviously they sell it cheaper, because the cost of production is lower,” he said.
For many, he points out, the lack of support is a grace shot to abandon the activity.
One of the main subsidy programs that existed was to support the renewal of boat engines.
“The federal government gave a third of the cost of the engine, the state government gave the other part and one as a producer put the other. In other words, if I used to pay 100,000 for a new engine, today I have to pay 300,000. Often there is no room to renew them and that increases accidents, so that many are stranded at sea because the engines stop working,” he said.
Mayri Beatriz Espedas, a fisherwoman from Chuburná, Yucatán, agrees that going out to sea with worn or broken engines represents a risk to the safety of fishermen and the income is not enough to buy a new one.
Although the Chuburná women's cooperative fishes in the La Carbonera lagoon, their husbands must go out to the high seas.
“If I put 50% of the government into the engine, it's already a big help, and the fisherman can see how to put the other part in, because it is a risk for them to come out like that,” he said.
For Espedas, another point where a government presence is necessary is in the training of fishermen, to guarantee the long-term survival of fishing resources and to improve production chains.
The federal government allocated 1,472.9 million pesos to the Bienesca program in 2021, in accordance with the approved budget. As of the last report for the third quarter of that year, the single amount of 7,200 pesos was given to 175,502 beneficiaries.
For 2022, the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Commission (Conapesca) has not announced the dispersion of resources in this Fiscal Year.
Santos Ignacio Ramos, a fisherman from Playa Sur, in Sinaloa, has no negative perception of the government policy of the current administration. His activity has always been as an assistant, not as a permit holder, so he had never before accessed economic benefits from the Government.
“I just saw the tickets go by and I never touched anything. Right now if they give us all a support,” he said.
Although he recognizes that the subsidies are less than before, he trusts that the rumor of an increase to 10,000 pesos in the Bienesca program will be true.
Insecurity, the worst of evils
Another program that was eliminated by the current administration is inspection and surveillance, which consisted of collaboration with authorities to protect fishing areas and protected natural areas from poachers.
Both Ernesto Gastélum and Santos Ignacio Ramos said that they have to travel longer and longer distances out to sea in order to obtain resources, since the decline in populations is already notable, so illegal fishing, which does not respect fences or sizes, is one of the main problems.
Insecurity is one of the main problems affecting the fishing sector, not only because of illegal fishermen, but also because of the presence of organized crime.
In Yucatán, Mayri Beatriz Espedas said that there have been multiple robberies of fishermen on the high seas. They steal their engine and leave them drifting alone in the boat. Other times they steal their entire boat and just leave them hanging from a buoy, he said.
“Right now there is no surveillance like we used to have. Right now you leave with the risk of being robbed at sea, having your work equipment taken away and leaving you lying there. It is our children, our husbands, who have suffered these aggressions,” he said.
In Sonora and Sinaloa, organized crime has taken a step further, as fishermen must pay floor fees to work.
Fishermen with whom Journalism Causa Natura spoke explained that they are obliged to sell their product cheaply to certain cooperatives, so as not to have problems with crime.
“If I used to sell a kilo of product for 20 pesos, now I have to sell a kilo of that same product for 15 pesos and they tell you to whom. The five weights of difference are the utility of organized crime. The person who buys it from you is in control,” he said.
Rethink subsidies, not eliminate
José Luis Carrillo, of the Mexican Confederation of Fisheries and Aquaculture Cooperatives (CONMECOOP), recognized that it was necessary to readjust the resources being distributed, but not to eliminate all of them.
“If it was necessary to take stock, to verify what social impact they had, to make an adjustment, but to assess which programs should remain, those that help the sector to improve and competitiveness,” he said.
For the fishing leader, resources must be distributed without neglecting four main axes: the renewal of engines, which is inaccessible to small producers; fuel aid, to improve competitiveness with other markets; inspection and surveillance, to counter illegal fishing and crime; and the strengthening of applied research.
Another urgent pending issue, he added, is fisheries management.
“It's a pending issue, it's not from this administration, but from several previous ones. We need to do an analysis of the different fisheries, see which ones are really needed, make a readjustment of permits and in which ones can be given to those who really belong to them,” he concluded.
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