In the last decade, grouper fishing has experienced a critical situation in Yucatán. To reverse this situation, state authorities presented the Strategic Project for Fishery Restoration, which brings together scientific research to recover the stocks of this fishery.
Claudia Durruty Lagunes, an academic from the Multidisciplinary Teaching and Research Unit of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) at Sisal, explained that together with her colleagues she is participating in this project, which includes short and long-term actions.
“It will imply (the project) that grouper species do not go extinct. With all the studies carried out in research centers on issues of fishing, economy, society and aquaculture, for example, as well as all economic and fishing actors. It is expected that all ideas and actions will be included and that the problem will be addressed from every possible angle,” he explained.
In 2023, according to the National Fisheries Commission (Conapesca), 5,092 tons of grouper were caught in Yucatán, but this represents a 36.4% drop compared to what was caught in 2015.
The researcher pointed out that the decrease in catch is due to several factors, including the lack of permits for fishing, the number of vessels that currently exist and that are not registered, the non-compliance with minimum catch sizes, the size of the hook used and the lack of sensitivity of society.
“Added to this are the consequences of sport fishing and poaching, environmental deterioration and the lack of knowledge about the diversity of edible marine fish by consumers,” he described.
Although for the fishing industry, the presentation of this project seems to be late, Claudia Durruty said “it's better late than never”.
In Yucatán, the red grouper is one of the species most studied by the scientific sector in terms of its biology, population dynamics and resource evaluation. This has led to the creation of standards, instruments and management tools.
One of the threats facing the species is climate change. Source: Government of Mexico.
New proposal for the recovery of the grouper
The new project seeks to have a Fishery Management Model for the state and thus protect the marine species most affected by overfishing.
In an interview with Causa Natura Media, Lila Frías, head of the Secretariat of Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture, acknowledged that attention for groupers must be urgent: “The species has experienced natural deterioration. A first step with this strategy is to carry out the Fisheries Planning because we need to know how many boats there are, how many fishermen are engaged in grouper fishing, how many permits there are and then start with a diagnosis.”
This strategy will be implemented in coordination with Conapesca and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Mexico, because they seek to strengthen surveillance on the coasts of the Yucatan Peninsula and at the same time create food security plans in the state's fishing communities.
Lila Frías added that research centers in the Yucatan Peninsula will be invited to collaborate, since the academy has several diagnoses related to the species: “The grouper is in a moment of emergency because it is facing a severe crisis. We know about researchers at the Science Park and the UNAM who have been working for years to consider how to recover this fishery and we want to take them back to action.”
Sepasy will carry out a census of boats off the Yucatecan coast. Source: Itzel Chan.
The secretary of Sepasy acknowledged that not all the vessels that capture the grouper are registered and also with this strategy they seek to identify them.
“Today we see boats all over the coast that are not registered, fishermen that are not registered either or that are duplicating themselves. Some are here and others are in Campeche. These censuses are accurate,” he said.
Despite the fact that the current census contains about 12 thousand fishermen in Yucatecan territory, Secretary Lila Frías estimates that there are another four thousand without registration.
Fishermen, those most affected by the decline in grouper
The “Strategic Project for the Restoration of the Grouper Fishery in the Yucatan Peninsula” was presented in the first week of April and people dedicated to fishing hope it will benefit the species.
“Here in Celestún it's already very difficult to find grouper; fishing is just a memory in Yucatán,” said fisherman Carlos Andrés Gómez, a resident of this port.
Although the grouper fishery records large amounts of catch annually, he recognized that it is increasingly difficult to find specimens.
“Those plans would have been made before, right now it seems very difficult to recover the population,” criticized the fisherman who 10 years ago caught 100 kilograms of this fish per day, but today, although he is going to find only one specimen.
Fishermen say that it is increasingly difficult to find just one specimen. Source: Government of Mexico.
Now they go up to 60 miles out to sea, which means three hours one way and three hours back and sometimes just to find a mere one. This route means for them an expense of 4,000 pesos in gasoline, not counting their food.
From his experience, one of the main threats to the species has been scuba fishing and the most worrying thing is that this method does not respect sizes.
In the research Vulnerability to fishing and climate change of the American grouper in Yucatán, led by a group of researchers from Cinvestav, it is explained that, after 20 years of the application of the ban and 14 years of the imposition of a minimum size (36 centimeters of total length of an American grouper), the species shows no recovery, to the point of being classified as threatened in the Vulnerable category of the “Red List” of the Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Josué Canul Reyes, a lifelong fisherman and leader of the Celestún Fishing Refuge Zone, said that these threats are compounded by the excess of fishermen in the sea, the effects of climate change and the use of grouper as bait.
“There are fishermen in boats that, despite the fact that the species is becoming extinct, they grab it, split it in half, leave it hooked to hooks and with that they don't respect its minimum size,” Josué said.
Years ago, a single fisherman caught up to 100 kg of grouper. Source: Government of Mexico.
Eating grouper is a luxury
This April 1st, the grouper fishing period began and in these first few weeks the sightings are not encouraging. Josué fears that this fishery will soon disappear.
“Despite the fact that the prices of this fish are very good, the catch volumes are very low and as fishermen we see this in an alarming way. To exemplify, before we ate a grouper like nothing and it gave us pleasure, but today for the fisherman it is a real luxury. We'd rather sell it than eat it. At the port we no longer eat grouper,” he described.
The current price of grouper reaches up to 200 pesos per kilogram, but the fishing industry regrets that it is profitable when there is not enough catch.
The inhabitants of the port of Celestún no longer eat mere food in the face of scarcity. Source: Government of Mexico.
To replace this species, the state's fishermen are now catching blond and snappers.
“The thing is that now we are going to the sea thinking: 'to see if God gives us a mere one'. That's how precarious the situation is. I think that if we don't take care of what's left of this fishery in the near future it will disappear. I think that the project that was presented may seem to be late, but the worst thing would be not to try,” Josué said.
* This article was written by Itzel Chan, who covers coastal communities thanks to the support of the Report for the World program .
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