Playa del Carmen Fishing Crisis: No Permits in 15 Years

Playa del Carmen — José Gómez Burgos, secretary of the Mar Caribe tourism cooperative and president of the Xaman-Ha fishing cooperative, stated that the fishing and capture sector in Playa del Carmen is in decline. The cause is the lack of permits required to practice their trade, which have not been issued by the federal regulatory bodies for over 15 years.

No Fishing Permits Issued Since 2013

Gómez Burgos recalled that the fishing permits were first requested in 2013. However, they have not been granted to date. The justification provided by the authorities is that there has been no modification to the nautical chart, a prerequisite for issuing new permits.

“When we made the application in 2013, they turned us down. It was the same in 2015, and again in 2017. We filed an appeal, and in 2019 we presented the application again. We even managed to get a review,” said Gómez Burgos. “The justification for the ruling states that there has been no modification to the nautical chart, and therefore there is no possibility of obtaining a capture permit.”

Local Fishing Activity in Decline

He indicated that this is a widespread issue across the entire state of Quintana Roo. The situation has led many people who were dedicated to fishing to prefer pursuing other activities. This, in turn, has resulted in all the fish consumed locally being brought in from other areas, often frozen and not fresh.

“It's not only Playa del Carmen; we are a relatively new community of fishermen. But many fishermen are already working in other areas. The community has grown, and fishermen from other parts have arrived. The same is true in Puerto Juárez and all the coastal areas in the state of Quintana Roo,” Gómez Burgos explained. “This matter is delicate because we have an area within a bureaucratic structure where nothing gets resolved, and it has kept the country's [fishing sector] paralyzed for a long time.”