The U.S. Coast Guard has detained another 12 Mexican fishers engaging illegally harvesting fish from U.S. waters, the latest in a string of missions by the military to crack down on illicit fishing activities in the Gulf of Mexico.
On 21 April, Coast Guard forces operating around South Padre Island and Corpus Christi detected Mexican fishers operating in the Gulf of Mexico, currently referred to as the Gulf of America by the federal government. The Coast Guard was able to interdict three lanchas – small swift fishing vessels that are used frequently by Mexican fishers to cross into U.S. waters. Officers seixed 550 pounds of red snapper, 850 pounds of shark, and some fishing gear.
The detained fishers were transferred to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for processing.
According to Coast Guard releases on the incident, the military has now detained at least 50 Mexican fishers operating illegally in the U.S.’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) so far this year.
“The Coast Guard remains unwavering in our mission to protect and defend our nation’s maritime borders,” Lt. Cmdr. Lisa Motoi, chief of enforcement for the Coast Guard's Eighth District, said in a statement. “With highly trained teams aboard our cutters, boats, and aircraft, we will continue to aggressively target illegal fishing and the criminal networks it fuels. Our presence at sea is a critical line of defense for the nation’s sovereignty.”
The federal government has targeting illegal red snapper fishing in the gulf as a source of income for the Gulf Cartel, which operates south of the U.S. border. Last year, the U.S. Department of Treasury sanctioned five individuals it claims are organizing those illegal fishing missions on behalf of the cartel.
“As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of the designated persons described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to [the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control],” the department said in December 2024. “In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more, by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.”
