Facebook Code “Jícama” Hides Illegal Conch Sales

PROGRESO, Mexico — The illegal sale of queen conch, a protected mollusk, is openly advertised on Facebook groups in Progreso, Yucatán, using the code word "jícama" to evade detection. This species is sought for its meat, its shell, and the valuable pearls it may contain.

According to official information, there is a significant underreporting by authorities regarding the illegal fishing of queen conch, and current enforcement efforts are insufficient to counteract the impacts on the species. Despite a permanent fishing ban, or veda, being in place since 1988, illegal fishermen continue to capture and commercialize this mollusk along the Yucatán coast. Researchers and fishing leaders warn that the clandestine extraction threatens the Alacranes Reef and generates a black market with high prices for its meat and pearls.

A Black Market Hidden in Plain Sight

A woman living in a locality within the Progreso municipality offers ceviche on Facebook groups that she prepares herself, listing shrimp, octopus, or "jícama." While jícama is a common root vegetable in Mexico, on this social network it functions as a code word meaning the product for sale is or contains queen conch (Aliger gigas, formerly Lobatus gigas and Strombus gigas), a mollusk named for the pink color of its shell.

"They come to sell it to me here," asserts the woman who prepares the queen conch dishes at home and delivers them. "Since I know people consume it and I am a seller of ceviches, I buy it for my business. Sometimes, when the ceviche doesn't sell, I then sell it by the kilo."

The ceviche vendor buys a kilo of queen conch for 200 Mexican pesos (11 dollars) and after cleaning it and removing the parts she considers inedible, she sells the meat for 230 pesos per kilo (12 dollars). When prepared as ceviche, she sells an 800-gram portion for 170 pesos (9 dollars) and offers it on social networks with the universal code word: jícama, though she says she does not know why it is called that.

"It is delicious and people consume it a lot. I know it is under a fishing ban, but any of the fishermen can sell it to you. It is like the capture of octopus, which is under a [temporary] ban, but any person comes to sell it to you or you can get it anywhere," the woman assures.

When asked if many people are dedicated to selling queen conch ceviche, the woman does not hesitate: "Yes, the truth is, in Progreso, yes," she says.

The version provided by the ceviche vendor is confirmed in different sales groups on social networks. Six users were identified offering queen conch prepared in ceviche or just the meat in Facebook groups integrated by people from the municipal seat of Progreso or localities within the municipality. In the sales offers, all posts from this year, they attached photos of chopped conch with tomato, onion, and other vegetables, the pulp alone packaged in bags, and hundreds of specimens in freezers.

Another vendor who has a small cocktail bar in the municipal seat of Progreso, half a kilometer from the new international boardwalk, offers aguachiles, cocktails, and queen conch ceviche in one-liter containers on her social networks. When contacted, she said she sold an order with 200 grams of mollusk plus vegetables for 310 pesos. She commented that it was very fresh but did not want to give details about its origin.

Among the ceviche sales messages, a Facebook account has been offering queen conch since 2021. One of its most recent posts, from last June, includes photos of frozen conch, with several specimens per package and hundreds of bags stored in freezers.

Alejandro Medina Quej, a marine ecologist and professor-researcher at the Technological Institute of Chetumal, has been monitoring this conch species since 2010 in Quintana Roo. The expert reviewed the photographs from all the identified Facebook posts showing conch meat and confirmed that all show female and male queen conch.

A Threat to a Protected Reef

Neither of the two women interviewed knows for certain or wants to say where the queen conch they use to prepare their ceviches comes from. However, both offer it near the port of Progreso, 140 kilometers from the Alacranes Reef National Park, a natural protected area of great importance as it forms the largest coral structure in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the only known and described reef in the state of Yucatán.

This park was declared a natural protected area in 1994 with the objective of conserving its biological diversity, protecting the genetic heritage, and promoting the sustainable use of its resources. However, it faces a constant problem of illegal queen conch fishing, according to information from the Secretary of the Navy, testimonies from fishing leaders, and the park's own director.

One of the most recent cases of illegal fishing in this natural protected area occurred on May 13, 2025. The Secretary of the Navy reported that, together with the Mexican Navy and the National Aquaculture and Fishing Commission (Conapesca), they detained three men on a vessel transporting 132 kilograms of queen conch inside the Alacranes Reef National Park.

The detained persons had set sail days earlier from the Progreso cove but ran out of fuel and had to ask the Navy for help. Naval personnel, upon boarding the vessel, first noted that it had no name or registration. A more detailed inspection revealed a false bottom where they were hiding the queen conch. The three men, the vessel, and the conch were turned over to the Attorney General's Office (FGR), which initiated an investigation.

Cristóbal Enrique Cáceres, Director of the Alacranes Reef National Park, explains that the area functions as a natural incubator, as all commercial species concentrate there in their reproductive stage. "When the offspring grow and reach a juvenile state, they approach the coast and are what feed [the people living on] the entire north coast of the Yucatán Peninsula," the official states.

Authorized lobster fishermen have informed the director about unauthorized vessels extracting lobster and other species, like conch. "One of the species that poachers normally go for is conch, which is under a permanent ban for the state of Yucatán, and it is a species very much in demand in restaurants and by people in general," comments the official.

Cáceres adds that the detention of the vessel with conch last May is part of protection actions within Alacranes Reef implemented under an agreement that began in 2024 and was renewed this year between the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (Conanp) and the Government of the state of Yucatán. He points out that from last November until May, they have detained seven vessels engaged in illegal fishing in the park.

Under that alliance, six park rangers from the Yucatán government were incorporated into the existing team of five from Conanp, for a total of 11 people dedicated to the vigilance and conservation of the park. Furthermore, Alacranes Reef was equipped with two vessels and diving equipment. The protected area's field station was also improved with the installation of solar panels and satellite internet, allowing for constant communication with the mainland.

According to the park director, thanks to the alliance with the state government, they can now cover a wider area to monitor the species inhabiting the reef and conduct more patrols for longer periods to ensure there is no illegal fishing.

"Between 2024 and 2025, we have seen a notable decrease in poaching vessels at the site," assures Cáceres. "The poachers know we are there now and that our vessels have the capacity to reach them. They know they risk being detained and turned over to the corresponding authority. It now makes them a bit fearful and it has indeed generated a decrease in poaching at the site," insists the official.

However, data from the Secretary of the Navy and the National Aquaculture and Fishing Commission (Conapesca), the two entities responsible for the administration, conservation, development, and vigilance of the national park, do not reflect the information provided by Cáceres. There is a significant underreporting of illegal fishing in the area.

The Secretary of the Navy reported that from 2014 to the present, it only has records of two incidents of illegal fishing in the area, both related to crimes against biodiversity and specifically with queen conch. The first corresponds to the three men stranded in the park due to lack of gasoline; the second occurred on January 2, 2023, when 15 kilograms of this mollusk were confiscated, although this was in Chicxulub Puerto, Progreso municipality, and not inside the National Park.

For its part, Conapesca indicated that after an exhaustive search of its archives, it found no records of illegal fishing within the park between 2014 and 2025. In contrast, the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa), the entity responsible for enforcing environmental justice in Mexico, provided a list of 12 vessels identified fishing illegally in the park during that same period, although it did not specify which species.

In the last decade, according to Profepa data, only four sanctions were imposed with fines ranging between 100,000 Mexican pesos (5,343 dollars) and 120,000 Mexican pesos (6,412 dollars) for illegal fishing in the national park. However, none of those fines were paid, and no one was detained.

The Fishermen Who Keep Watch

Three fishing leaders, whose groups are dedicated to lobster capture in Yucatán and are affected by the poaching of this species during the closed season, agree that there is illegal fishing of queen conch in the Alacranes Reef National Park. They or their colleagues from the fishing cooperatives have seen it while performing vigilance duties in the area, as part of a collaboration agreement with the Navy and Conapesca.

Mariano Canul Uicab, president of the Federation of Fishing Cooperative Societies of the Central-Western state of Yucatán, says in an interview that although they banned the exploitation of this species, they never cared for it to prevent it from being captured illegally. "They closed it, the conch increased, and the poachers arrived and saw it. It didn't take long for someone, with money, to say 'There's a lot of conch, let's work, I'll buy you a boat'," relates the fishing leader.

José Luis Carrillo Galaz, president of the Mexican Confederation of Fishing and Aquaculture Cooperatives, explains that the fishermen from his group have a community inspection and vigilance committee in the park. They contribute vessels, personnel, and supplies to reach the area and, in coordination with the Navy and Conapesca, conduct patrols in areas where there is presence of illegal fishing. It is in this way that they have detected conch being fished all year round.

"On a permanent basis there are minor vessels working conch, lobster, and grouper during the closed season. Last month we saw two vessels capturing conch and lobster. That is common and permanent," he recounts.

The fishing leader explains that, being a protected reserve zone, there is always an abundance of resources, which makes it a very attractive point for illegal fishermen. Many of them risk traveling from the continental coast to the park because they know they will be able to capture many animals there.

"It is very important that the Navy really gets even more involved in the issue of illegal fishing. We know it fulfills some objectives like the issue of narcotics, regarding security, but the issue of illegal fishing is already a matter of national security and as such the Navy should consider it," maintains Carrillo.

The fisherman is referring to the confrontations that have already occurred between poachers and those who work with permits. The fishermen who make up the Federation of Tourist, Aquaculture, and Artisanal Fishing Cooperatives of Yucatán also decided to perform vigilance duties in the park after identifying illegal fishing of species under permanent and partial bans, among them the queen conch.

"There are many people doing illegal fishing in those areas. The vessels are in many cases local from Progreso and its surrounding commissaries. They are fast boats of 25 feet with engines ranging from 90 to 250 horsepower, without decks. They are shore boats, but with new engines, equipped with radios and satellite antennas, they have internet automatically," describes Ana María Frías Salazar, president of the Federation.

Furthermore, she adds that poachers use air compressors to dive. This is a very predatory technique, as these equipment allow a continuous flow of air to the divers, increasing their immersion hours and, with that, the time dedicated to fishing. The fishing leader explains that, using this method, they ravage everything they find on the seabed: scale species, lobster, or conch.

According to Frías, vessels have been detected transporting up to 400 kilograms of conch. The fishing leader points out that they have filed complaints with various authorities about the sale of conch meat on social networks. As confirmed for this report, she explains that the meat is commercialized on Facebook groups, where it is offered in different presentations: whole, peeled, chopped, and confirms that the code word to find it is "jícama."

Frías explains that there has been a boom in conch fishing, driven not only by its meat but also because in some cases pearls have been found inside. She points out that these pearls can reach very high prices, ranging from 50,000 Mexican pesos (2,672 dollars) to 400,000 Mexican pesos (21,373 dollars).

A Change in Management for Better Protection

It is not only regulated fishermen who have tried to protect the conch. Alejandro Olivera, representative in Mexico for the Center for Biological Diversity, recounts that in 2021 this organization presented a petition to the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) to include the queen conch in the Mexican Official Standard NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010, a regulation that lists species at risk of extinction. To date, the request has not been addressed.

"We have been focusing on species like sea cucumbers and conch because we see that the populations are very depleted and that the management by Conapesca has led them to this situation," comments Olivera.

If the queen conch is included in NOM-059, its management would pass from Conapesca to Semarnat, which, according to Olivera, would allow for more effective management oriented toward conservation. He explains that this would facilitate the application of measures like constant monitoring of the species and the regular delivery of technical reports, which would help protect it.

He adds that the queen conch is captured not only for its meat but also for its shells, which are sold as ornaments. "The queen conch has the function of eating, filtering, and cleaning the entire seabed. Furthermore, it controls the growth of algae or seagrasses and is food for many other species. So, it is key to keeping systems healthy. It is a shame that a species that was once so abundant in that entire region has not been able to be managed adequately and its population has been drastically reduced," says the specialist.

The decline of the queen conch throughout its distribution area in the Caribbean led to its inclusion in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1992, with the purpose of controlling its international trade and monitoring its exploitation.

Given that in other states of Mexico the queen conch can be extracted under certain conditions, such as in Quintana Roo where the ban is temporary, the species is exported to other countries. Between 2014 and 2023, Mexico exported 477 queen conch shells and three tons of its meat to various destinations, although there is no information to know if those specimens came from places where its capture is authorized or from Yucatán. The United States, Germany, Japan, Spain, Canada, New Zealand, and China were the main buyers, according to the CITES database.

Researcher Alejandro Medina Quej states that the government agencies in charge of protecting the queen conch must expand their vigilance to restaurants, stores, and markets to ensure compliance with the ban. The researcher assures that a good example of protection for this species occurs in San Pedro, Belize, where the authorities establish a capture quota, the ban is respected, and an additional month is allowed to commercialize the product in restaurants and markets. After that time, it is removed from menus because its sale is no longer permitted. This regulation is complied with thanks to constant vigilance, which has contributed to the good management of the resource, he assures.

"If it is applied in this way, we avoid that commerce. Follow-up must be given not only to the fishing but also to the commercialization," concludes the specialist.