The lack of adequate inspection and surveillance to avoid poaching has caused the overexploitation of species
(MÉRIDA, Yuc. – CONAPESCA), January 21, 2022.- In the last five years the fishery has become difficult regarding the capture of species such as grouper, the main concern is that there are no more groupers around!
Many fihsermen have stopped fishing because they no longer consider it profitable.
The president of the Mexican Confederation of Fishing and Aquaculture Cooperatives (Conmecoop), José Luis Carrillo Galaz, pointed out that fishing has become complicated and it is necessary to work thoroughly in the state councils, management committees, within Conapesca itself in the part legislation for the recovery of this species.
Until December, 3,600 tons had been recorded, which represents a very low volume compared to the five to six thousand tons that used to be generated per season, so this significant decrease is nothing but an indication that there are problems in the fishery and fishing cooperatives must work in coordination with the different levels of government in order to save the species.
The grouper catch should end in the first quarter of this year, to enter a two-month ban, with a view to recovering the product, so that fishing can resume after that period of time.
The biologist and representative of the National Fisheries Institute (Inapesca), Alicia Virginia Poot Salazar, explained that the Yucatecan sea contributes 80 percent of the marine scale of the entire Gulf of Mexico, but it is also the coastline that suffers from the most fishing overexploitation.
Regarding the production of grouper we are the first place at the national level. When it comes to lobster, we produce 54 percent of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, and at a national level we occupy the third place. While 73 percent of the total national octopus production corresponds to the Yucatecan Maya octopus.
The overexploitation of these species is due to the lack of adequate inspection and surveillance to prevent poaching. The species would reproduce adequately and it would give more opportunity for the production to increase in quality and quantity.
“The red grouper is overexploited, it is important to tell the truth, in order to find solutions, because that does not mean that we cannot take advantage of it or recover it, everything is possible. For many years the production of grouper has been very high, giving sustenance to many families; in 1972, 19,000 tons were extracted, but in the last five years it has decreased significantly; only between five and four thousand tons are obtained annually”, the biologist and representative of the National Fisheries Institute (Inapesca), Alicia Virginia Poot Salazar concluded.
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