Illegal Fishing Undercuts Lobster Prices for Tulum Cooperatives

Tulum, Quintana Roo — Illegal fishing is keeping lobster prices under pressure in Tulum by bringing product to market at costs considerably lower than those set by fishing cooperatives, cutting into the income of fishermen who work legally.

Martín Daniel Pech Briseño, a member of the Tulum Fishing Production Cooperative, said illegally caught lobster can sell for between 350 and 400 pesos per kilogram — a gap of as much as 350 pesos compared with the price organized fishermen need to charge to cover their operating costs.

He explained that cooperatives cannot lower their prices to match, because of the expenses involved in fishing formally: fuel, maintenance of boats and equipment, oxygen tanks, transport and other supplies required to bring in the catch.

“Illegal fishing hurts us, because it pushes the price down a lot, and we can’t drop ours that far because we have expenses,” Pech Briseño said.

He noted that the work requires constant investment to move and operate the equipment fishermen use during their trips, so the sale price must allow them to recover at least part of those costs.

Those working within the law, he added, struggle to compete with product that reaches the market without carrying the same costs and obligations as established cooperatives.

Pech Briseño said the situation directly affects fishermen who depend on selling lobster as a source of income, particularly during the fishing season.

Against that backdrop, he said Tulum’s fishing sector faces the challenge of keeping the formal trade profitable in the face of competition from illegal fishing, which weighs on both sales and the earnings of those who comply with the rules governing the activity.