In order to pay for the expenses and obtain good octopus fishing, the local fishermen based on La Caleta dock usually spend a two-day stay on the high seas, about 20 miles (37 kilometers) off the coast.
They have to go all the way out to open sea, if they want to capture large specimens of commercial size .
At the beginning of the third month of the “pulpo season”, the fishing sector is uncertain about what has been anticipated. The forecast for the August 1 to December 15 period, is 17,348 tons of Maya Octopus.
However, some fihermen point out that they have to do two days at sea to get a good catch, take out expenses for fuel, ice, bait and for fishing equipment and have some profit.
Salvador Macías affirms that the kilo of okol or crab that they use as bait that is brought from the port of Andrés Sánchez Magallanes, in Tabasco, costs $ 120 pesos, (it is actually more expensive than the octopus itself), as they get paid $112 pesos per kilo of “pulpo”.
Fishermen say that three men in a boat and two catches in two days fish up to 160 kilos, that is, $ 17,920 pesos.
The majority of the pulperos from La Caleta go out at least 37 km off the shore to fish octopus, because anywhere near the coast the specimens are too small.
TYT Newsroom with information from yucatan.com.mx
