• REPEAT OFFENDER For a third time in a row, the US has identified Mexico as a country having vessels fishing illegally in US waters in the Gulf of Mexico with direct impact on finfish stocks and a by-catch of sea turtles which could lead the US to impose sanctions, according to activists.
• LANCHAS A biannual report for the US Congress, the 2019 edition of the Improving International Fisheries Management says that the US Government agencies have apprehended 35 Mexican fishing vessels in the Gulf of Mexico (known locally as lanchas); in 2017 the number was 33.
• SANCTIONS? “The Trump…Administration is notoriously prone to use trade sanctions, even against its allies. Mexico has already suffered this in its own flesh with the immigration crisis”, says Pedro Zapata, VP of Oceana Mexico, an NGO focused on ocean conservation.
• RED FISH According to the US report, Mexican lanchas use longline (monofilament with no wire leaders) and the catch is mostly red snapper; the Trump Administration is worried that many Mexican red snapper exports to the US may be illegally harvested by Mexican lanchas in US waters.
