The lack of surveillance and control in the coastal area of Yucatan is causing poachers to once again loot sea cucumbers and process them in clandestine brothels.
In the last two weeks, reports have been reaching fishing groups in the east of the island of the presence of poachers diving between the coasts of Dzilam de Bravo and San Felipe.
According to the inhabitants of the river, there are around 100 boats that start their activity from the afternoon until before dawn, the product is unloaded in three different places: in an area known as the lagoon, in “El Cerrito” and in “Los Cipreses”.
In fact, they indicate that in “el cerrito”, which is a known area of mangroves, a clandestine brothel has been installed again, where the cucumber is being processed to be delivered to the buyers of Dzilam de Bravo and Santa Clara.
The fishermen, who have taken videos and photographs from a distance of the presence of the poachers, indicate that they are 10 and 12 miles from the coast of Dzilam. They point out that when the fishermen are leaving in the afternoons to return to their ports of origin, they see the poaching boats, some without registration, arriving in front of San Felipe, the hometown of the new Yucatan governor.
Although there have not been any more confrontations at sea as occurred 5 months ago, the fishermen from the east affirm that the depredation has already gotten out of control. They indicate that they expected that with the change of state and federal government, illegal fishing would stop, but on the contrary, it has worsened to the point that even in Facebook and WhatsApp groups the same poachers publish requests for divers to fish for sea cucumber, and some even take out advertisements offering to buy the species for 50 or 60 pesos per kilo.
Last week there was an inspection by sea by uniformed officers from the Navy, who detected poachers, but they could not continue with the operation because the predators used a different strategy, since instead of fleeing they sought to confront the authorities and cause an accident.
This has caused fear among fishermen in the east because it could trigger a new confrontation on the high seas.
In fact, it was reported that there are permit holders from San Felipe who are looking for a way to also capture the cucumber since there are interested buyers from Progreso, which is where all the product that is being looted is sent. The intensive exploitation of the sea cucumber caused a drastic decrease.
Overexploitation in Yucatan has been a significant problem since this species became a key fishing resource in the region, especially due to its high value in international markets.
TYT Newsroom
