MEXICAN LONGLINE COMMERCIAL FISHING
BOAT IS CONFISCATED AT CABO SAN LUCAS

June 26, 2004, Tracy Ehrenberg, Pisces Fleet, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico Fishing:

CABO SAN LUCAS LONGLINE BOAT CONFISCATION

The best news of all this week was the capture of a commercial vessel long-lining at Punta Gorda. We received a call from the captain of one our charters, the Ni Modo, advising on Thursday morning that there was a boat setting long lines, between the two banks, about ten miles offshore. This vessel had been seen docked in Cabo San Lucas the day before. Arturo Morales, the Pesca guy spoke to the marines who were available to go and board the vessel, fully armed with automatic weapons.

The only glitch was they didn't have a boat to get there. All of our boats were out on fishing charters, so we began making calls to see who had a boat available to take the authorities, along with a T.V crew out to Punta Gorda. It needed to be a fast boat, so that we could get there in time before they realized that anybody was on to them.

We made dozens of calls and to our amazement could not find anybody in Cabo San Lucas willing to go, even with us offering to pay for their fuel. Everybody was busy or doing something else.

I have to be honest; I could barely contain my frustration and sense of betrayal. So many people here at Cabo San Lucas live off of the sportfishing industry and benefit from living in this beautiful place, but when it came to putting up with a little inconvenience they didn't want to know.

Finally we saw that one of the Gaviota's fleet boats was tied up at the dock. A quick call to the manager and the boat was ours to use. It took the boat one hour to reach the vessel which was flagrantly caught with over two miles of lines in the water. As the marines approached the vessel, they pointed their weapons at the crew and asked them not to move an inch, as they were going to inspect their boat, a 70-foot modified shrimper, operating in tandem with a 24-foot panga, which was trying to retrieve the long lines as fast as they could.

One marlin was seen leaping, jumping for his life as the long line hook held him, he frantically shook his head and managed to get off, whilst being filmed by Televisa, the largest news channel in Latin America.

Once the vessel was boarded it was seen to be a Mexican vessel registered in Lazaro Cardenas on the mainland in the state of Michoacan. The crew consisted of eight people one of whom was Japanese and was apparently there as an instructor. A few marlin were found aboard, as well as a shark, plus some shark fins. We believe that once they saw the boat approaching with Marines on board, they began cutting the hooked marlin off.

The boat was forced to return to port at Cabo San Lucas, where the paperwork was examined. The permit they had was to fish for tuna and skipjack with lures. So there was no way around it, they were breaking the law.

The boat was confiscated by the Navy. The Japanese crew member was detained by immigration and the vessel has now been moved to La Paz to await legal proceedings.

We consider this a great victory and believe that the lives of many fish and marine animals were saved.

We hope that this will serve as an example to others that we shall not tolerate illegal fishing in our area and will fight to protect it.

Hats off to Arturo Morales from Pesca, as he did not back down for a moment and also to my husband Marco, who was there organizing everything and was burnt to a crisp after spending from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. aboard the vessels, ensuring that all procedures were followed correctly.