The U.S. Coast Guard was able to remove roughly 4,000 yards of longline gear they claim was deployed by Mexican fishers illegally operating in U.S. waters.
According to U.S. Coast Guard Heartland, the Coast Guard Cutter Yellowfin removed the longline gear from the water roughly 31 miles offshore in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone on 23 August. However, the illegally deployed gear had already hooked dozens of shark and fish.
“The crew removed 70 sharks and 20 snappers from the gear, eliminating a serious hazard to marine life and U.S. waters,” the Coast Guard said in a social media post.
Earlier this year, in February, the Yellowfin Coast Guard crew rescued three people from a capsized fishing vessel 40 miles offshore from Caillou Bay, Louisiana, U.S.A.
The Coast Guard has been active in interdicting Mexican fishers operating illegally above the maritime boundary line in the Gulf of Mexico, currently referred to as the Gulf of America by the Trump administration. The U.S. Department of Justice has also changed its policy, formerly charging some of those fishers in U.S. court instead of simply processing them and sending them back to Mexico. However, of the dozens of Mexican fishers detained by the U.S. Coast Goard so far this year, officials have only announced charges against four individuals. Those four pled guilty to violating the Lacey Act, an American law that prohibits the trafficking of illegally harvested fish, in June.
