Sport Fisherman in Manzanillo in the State of Colima will burn their fishing permits in public this Saturday to protest illegal fishing of Dorado and Sailfish

I just received a letter via email from Marko Alcaraz, one of the leaders of a sport fishing union in Manzanillo this morning. In this letter addressed to dozens of sport fisherman Marko states that; The fisherman of Manzanillo are fed up completely with the office of Mexican fisheries (Conapesca) for refusing to enforce the law in regards to the illegal fishing of Dorado and Sail Fish. Because of their frustration over the lack of enforcement of the law, this Saturday the 17th of January in downtown Manzanillo, under the largest statue of a sail fish in the world, sport fisherman will burn their sport fishing permits in protest. Mr Alcaraz has stated in his letter that if the federal government refuses to enforce the law in regards to illegal commercial fisherman then sport fisherman also have the right to break the law as well.

Manzanillo has a long tradition of sport fishing and has often been called the Sail Fish capital of the world. Many believe that the concept of modern sport fishing in Mexico was actually born in Manzanillo which boasts one of the longest running sport fishing tournaments in the country. It was actually an American business man from Chicago by the name of Le Roy H. Dorsey (above left) who helped promote the first fishing tournaments in Mexico, where they also started to use the new boat battery. The picture at right is from a magazine published in 1948 that was promoting one of the first ever sport fishing tournaments in Guaymas.

In the summer of 2012 my wife and I with our two children sailed through Manzanillo on our 36foot trimaran. During our month stay there we produced an expose on this illegal dorado and sailfish fishery. It should be noted that the illegal long line fishery in in Guaymas pales in comparison to what is going on between Barra de Navidad and Manzanillo.

Here is the report in English.

Here is the report in Spanish which received over 3000 views and 46 comments. Many of those comments from local coastal fisherman.

After the video aired on you tube commercial fisherman were briefly shut down by Conapesca inspectors. The illegal fisherman protested at the office of Conapesca in Manzanillo over the enforcement of the law. Since 2012 coastal artisan fisherman called (riberenos) have continued to exploit species such as dorado often called Mahi Mahi and sailfish, species that are strictly reserved for sport fisherman. In 2012 sport fisherman has hoped that with the new president of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto, things would be different and that the newly head of Mexican Fisheries, Mario Aguilar Sanchez, would enforce fishing laws that specifically protect sport fishing species. It appears now that even with the new PRI administration nothing has been done to stem the illegal fishing of dorado and sailfish. For this reason sport fisherman will burn their permits in protest.

I plan on being their to cover the event. If anyone would like to help out with my expenses to get there and back please feel free to make a contribution to my trip via the pay pal link below.

Gracias!!

Here is the letter in Spanish that has been sent to the head of Mexican Fisheries