The main problem of fishing sustainability in Mexico is poaching. This is what the industrial sector of this country considers it, which ranks fourteenth in the world in the production ranking.
Fishing entrepreneurs recognize the actions of federal authorities in the fight against illegal fishing, but at the same time they consider that it is time to implement adjustments to the strategy against this scourge, said Alfonso Rosiñol, manager of Institutional Relations at Grupomar and vice-president of the National Chamber of Fisheries and Aquaculture Industries (Canainesca).
In an interview with Causa Natura Media, Rosiñol detailed some of the main challenges faced by Mexican fishing in the current six-year term and the nuances of why not all fisheries suffer to the same extent from illegality.
The business representative highlighted the risks of a lack of budget in marine protected areas, efforts to recover MSC certification in tuna and condemned the violence that the business union has suffered after three murders in Ensenada and one in Eréndira.
This interview has been edited for synthesis and clarity.
Alfonso Rosiñol, manager of Institutional Relations at Grupomar and vice-president of Canainesca. Photo: Juan Luis Garcia.
— This end of the year, Conapesca released figures for the fight against illegal fishing in 2024, such as 14,572 land routes and 2,810 maritime routes. Do you see from CanainPesca that these numbers have translated into a tangible benefit for the fishing sector?
Look, we recognize that there is work that Conapesca is doing with Semar regarding illegal fishing. As you say, these are numbers that sound a lot, but at the same time that has to do with the fact that we have 11,500 kilometers of coastline. Let's say that it is an important number, but the really important thing must be how many seizures of products, engines and fishing gear are made.
— What changes does the current strategy merit?
I have sometimes commented and told the authorities that we have too much coastline to cover and that they should look for a strategy that has to do with intelligence, customs, airports, to make this fight a little stronger.
For example, here directly from Baja California, we have a military checkpoint in Mexicali or I even think there is one, later on, by Sonoyta. If there were an inspector from Conapesca checking every time you see that someone is bringing fish, because maybe it's more effective than if you're traveling the roads going from one fishing town to another.
Let's stay in Baja California, the totoaba crab is not being consumed in Mexico. Nobody is attracted to him or the superstitious qualities given to him by the Chinese in particular, so let's see what he's going through. He's going through some customs and some airport. Either you're flying out of Mexico, somehow, or going through customs to the United States and using airports in that country to fly to China. So if instead of grabbing a couple of fishermen who bring totoaba boats, you grab the one who collected the entire boat of 20 fishermen and is transporting them abroad, then it's a more effective fight. A stronger impact.
— There was a meeting of the National Council for Fisheries and Aquaculture, in which Canainesca and Conapesca participated, on December 19, 2024. Do you see a new proposal from Conapesca for this six-year term?
Look, if we perceive a very positive attitude to want to improve things, the appointment of Commissioner Alejandro, we see them with very good eyes, he is a person who knows the sector. Much has happened that people arrived who had nothing directly to do with fishing or did not know it in previous appointments...
In particular, we don't yet know details about illegal fishing, but in other aspects we see new ideas, that willingness to want to do something different that has a greater impact. The budget, since it is a limited budget, there are many things that are still pending; there are previous programs that had a benefit for fishermen that no longer exist, which were changed to Bienesca, since much has been debated about their effectiveness.
What is better for a fisherman, if the boat he works for is going out fishing because it is supported by the cost of diesel - the main cost of catching it - or direct support that leaves it at home and that ends up being less money he receives directly.
— Is there a clear attribution of responsibilities in the fight against illegal fishing today?
The illegal fishing part, let's remember that right now, because in a lot of it it already has to do with the Secretariat of the Navy, of course supported by Conapesca. But there, for example, that would be something very valuable, if there were no longer a real definition of who and how they interact with each other and what responsibilities each one has; there has been a certain ambiguity when it comes to the transfer of responsibilities and, suddenly, it's up in the air. That is something that this government could quickly finish giving a definition in all the details that have to do with illegal fishing.
— There is a question that seems to me to be very relevant now that it mentions the whole issue of combating illegal fishing and it is also, let's say, that of violence against certain businessmen in particular. Are there any provisions on the part of the authorities to protect the business sector from violence? Has anything been communicated to them?
— Look there, I do think we're a long way from where we want to be. Unfortunately, I have to say it. Well, as you mentioned, there have been several murders of people close to me, acquaintances, good people, very hardworking people with a lot of ideas and who, unfortunately, have lost their lives because of this issue of violence, and then, yes, that the authorities in matters of security and the administration of justice, in particular, of the Federation, have been somewhat absent, we know that there are many issues in the country, but that does not mean that they should not attend to any of them.
We have made some progress with state authorities in terms of law enforcement. We know that they are working, but I think we are still far from having the results we would like, particularly with people who have already died and I sincerely see it as far from being cared for all of us who are left. There, in general terms of violence, let's hope that there will be a drastic change in federal policy against the fight against organized crime, which will change a lot against what has led us to this in recent years. We are hopeful that there is a real willingness of the new government and we hope that they will act as such.
— What is the request in these cases?
— With people who have already died, let's hope that there can be justice, particularly for their families who lost someone, well, to keep that to a minimum. But I do think that the extremely important thing is that these cases do not continue to happen and that continued to happen. So as long as there is illegal fishing and it is not combated how it is being carried out, not only the capture, which is much the recent approach or approach of the government, but more how they move it, sell it, transport it to these points, because that cannot reduce the rest of the problem that exists in the sector.
— Is illegal fishing the main sustainability challenge in Mexico? Is there another one?
— If we talk about a challenge in terms of fishing sustainability, yes, number one has to do with illegal fishing. There are other factors, but number one is that. The Mexican fisherman in general, and here I am talking about the whole country and all the different species, is very responsible in what he does... So where is the problem? In certain species, and this can be verified with data, former director Pablo Arenas mentioned in several forums which species were overfished or endangered. If you review that list, basically, all the species that are in trouble, that are above their maximum use, all those species have a serious problem of illegal fishing, let's talk about lobster, abalone, snails, sea cucumber, octopus, all of those have a serious problem of illegal fishing. My shrimp was also being passed on to me.
So if, on the other hand, you turn around, to see the species within the range, let's say “green”, of exploitation, because of these species sardines do not have a problem with illegal fishing; yes, there is something there, but when it comes to the volume of what is illegally caught, it seems very small against what is legal catch and the quantity of product available, or tuna.
In these species that don't have that problem, let's see that there are some similarities. Species that generally need a ship and a port to be fished and unloaded, because they are highly monitored precisely because they are in a port where everyone sees the ship, you can see what they are doing.
On the other hand, the ones I mentioned that have a problem are usually caught by pangas, by smaller boats, these smaller boats can operate from a sandy beach, under much less supervision. So, we clearly realize where the problem lies. And this is precisely illegal fishing...
There are other things that influence, the care, the management of protected natural areas, that is, there are other details out there that do not have enough supervision or surveillance, these protected natural areas, because you declare them, you remove the legal fisherman and leave the illegal one working just because there is no one to see him. So a protected natural area that has no surveillance budget, because you're just, at best, creating a more severe problem, but even if you're fishing in a protected area, it's once again an issue of illegal fishing...
— Are certifications an indicator to ensure that fisheries are sustainable?
There you go, there are many fisheries that are sustainable, but that are not certified as sustainable and this is an important thing. In Mexico, we have a very high number of already certified fisheries. And we are working to ensure that more fisheries have this type of certification, but there are others that are sustainable but that (are not certified) because the fisherman does not have a budget to achieve that certification, because certifications are expensive. So much to achieve them, that is, the whole process that goes into analyzing you, reviewing you, auditing you to be certified as sustainable is expensive and then maintaining it is expensive.
In particular, I am in tuna, where we were certified for many years and because of a question of carrying out a biological study that came out of the financially viable budget, because our certification was suspended, but everything we had been doing was already certified as sustainable. The way we fish, the care for the environment, the care for other species, the bycatch (incidental fishing) that we had. All that and simply, since we couldn't comply with a study at the time, it was withdrawn from us; so it's an issue that's important for your audience to know, that just because you don't have a certification doesn't mean you're wrong.
— Was this an MSC certification?
Yes, which is the highest international certification that exists, we are there, we are at the moment we have already reconsidered how to carry out this study and I am not telling you this from the industrial or fishing side, but from the scientific side. We have worked with more than 40 scientists in workshops, where we are rethinking how to carry out this study and we are about to do the first tests, but the fact is that everything we have certified is still being done in the same way, but we are not currently certified as such by this study...
— Of the reconfiguration that you are doing hand in hand with scientists to remedy this. What would be the next step, I understand, in this attempt to regain certification?
In this case, we have already spoken with scientists, we have determined a new methodology for carrying out the study. We are currently working with the CIAT, which is the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission in which Mexico participates together with around 23 other countries. We are already working with them to be able to do a field test of this methodology to see if it will really be viable. This is going to be a biomass estimate based on DNA taken from dolphins.
So we are going to do the tests to see if we can really have the information we require through these DNA samples, scientists from Alaska and Portugal are working directly with us.
Now, once we can do that, we are talking about a work of more or less about a few, if it goes very well for us, two years and rather, I think it will be about three years to have a result from these studies. So there you come to a second factor, which is the cost and time to be certified and there are certain fisheries that do not have this availability in either of the two subjects and therefore continue to work well, but they are not marked as certified.
— Who represents the industrial side in this process?
In this particular case we're talking about what I mentioned to you about these tuna studies, in particular, it's called the Pacific Alliance for Sustainable Tuna. This alliance encompasses around 80% of Mexican tuna vessels, we are in particular the three largest companies in Mexico in terms of tuna, who made just this alliance between the three of us. Originally, there were four of us, now there are three left and it is this group of these three companies forming the alliance together with the Mexican government, particularly Conapesca, working with CIAT. Speaking for this study it is like this. We are talking about the fact that it is more or less 80% of that of the Mexican fishing fleet and it must be like 90% of the tuna vessels that are in Canainesca, we are 80% of the total. In other words, the majority of tuna is in Canainesca, there are very few who are not affiliated, but we see it directly in this way, we don't involve Canainesca in general because the Chamber brings up many other issues, so here with the alliance, because we do it directly.
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