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Will Sport fishing species recuperate in Mexico when Ramon Corral is just a bad memory?

I left San Carlos at the end of April and I now find myself anchored in the peaceful lagoon of Barra de Navidad on the border of Jalicsco and Colima.  We are anchored just in front of the Marina at Barra de Navidad and there is a tremendous amount of panga traffic. Many of the pangas sport long line fishing gear and when you carry that many hooks on your boat there is only one thing you can fish for and that would be dorado.

 

Small Dorado La Cruz de Huanacaxtle fish Market

As I think back at all the places we have visited since April there is one thought that sticks in my mind. I have not once seen a Conapesca official on the water or at any of the fish markets I have visited. Today as I rode my bicycle around Barra de Navidad I stopped off at the local fish market here. I asked for Dorado and was given a bit of a nasty look by the guy behind the counter. He told me he didn’t have any dorado but sailfish was 60 pesos a kilo. I thanked him and departed.

A very good friend of mine in San Jose del Cabo, Enrique Fernandez del Castillo thinks that under the new administration of PRI that things will be different. Conapesca will have a new man in charge, Ramon Coral the current man in charge and so called Asesino del Mar de Cortes will be replaced by someone who will enforce Article 68 of the general law of fisheries and stop the 7000 plus tons of dorado that are exported to the United States every year.

I have my doubts. When Ramon Coral unilaterally decided to open up dorado to the commerical fisheries of Mexico he knew it would be very difficult indeed to put the lid back on that box. I am gonna link to the latest article post by Robin Wade and Ed Kunze about what is going on down in Zihuat and Ixtapa if there is any doubt in anyones minds what the last 10 years of Ramon Coral & the illegal dorado fishing has done to the sport fishing industry in Mexico.

Barra de Navidad panga with long line gear

Ed’s last letter to me is even more depressing than the link above from the May fishing report.

 

There is little doubt in my mind that we must now work hard to stop the illegal exportation of Dorado to the U.S.A. From this moment on I plan on finding the funds to begin the law suit against the Federal Government of the United States to enforce the Lacey Act and end once and for all the importation of sport fishing species to the U.S.

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