Conapesca Has Issued No New Commercial Fishing Permits in Playa del Carmen for 17 Years

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — Mexico’s National Aquaculture and Fisheries Commission (Conapesca) has not issued a single new commercial fishing permit in Playa del Carmen in 17 years, the agency’s Quintana Roo state coordinator, Mario Jesús González Fernández, confirmed.

The freeze blocks local fishing cooperatives from formalizing their work and keeps unlicensed fishermen outside the legal framework, cutting them off from government support programs and formal markets.

González Fernández said the Mexican Institute for Research in Fisheries and Sustainable Aquaculture (IMIPAS) concluded that the number of fishermen in the area exceeds the volume of fish available, which is why the federal agency stopped approving new authorizations.

On that basis, Conapesca has rejected three applications for commercial scale-fish permits filed by the Xaman Há fishing cooperative. José Gómez Burgos, the cooperative’s secretary general, said the group first applied in 2013 and has filed appeals against each refusal without securing a favorable ruling.

Only six permit holders are currently authorized to catch scale fish in Playa del Carmen, according to the state coordinator. Those permits date back 25 years and have not been renewed or expanded since.

The standoff reflects a long-running tension between federal fishing regulators and local cooperatives, which have seen their access to a traditional regional industry limited by the stalled issuance of new licenses.

González Fernández said IMIPAS may carry out a new study in 2027 to determine whether conditions now allow additional permits to be granted, though no firm date has been set for the review.