Cancún, Quintana Roo — The illegal harvesting of sea stars in tourist destinations like Cancún continues despite strict environmental laws designed to protect marine biodiversity, with violators facing penalties of up to nine years in prison.
In popular tourist areas such as Cancún’s hotel zone, vendors commonly display sea stars and seashells for sale to tourists at high prices. A recent video showed a man harvesting sea stars in the hotel zone, but authorities did not detain him because he wasn’t in possession of the specimens during their inspection.
Environmentalists have expressed outrage and concern over the practice, emphasizing that extracting marine species damages ecosystems and calling for zero tolerance toward ecological harm.
Legal Penalties
Mexico’s Federal Penal Code, specifically Article 420, Section IV, makes it a crime to capture, possess, transport, collect, or trade specimens of wildlife at risk, including sea stars, without proper authorization. Penalties range from one to nine years in prison, fines equivalent to 300 to 3,000 days’ wages, and increased penalties for commercial purposes.
The NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010 regulation classifies various marine species under protection categories that prohibit their extraction, harm, or movement without special permits, with sanctions ranging from fines to imprisonment.
Market Prices
In Cancún’s central markets like Mercado 23, small sea stars sell for just over 20 Mexican pesos, while larger ones cost between 120 and 150 pesos. Online prices vary from under 200 pesos to over 300 pesos, with collections including seashells exceeding 200 pesos. In tourist-heavy areas like the hotel zone, prices can skyrocket to 1,000 pesos or more.
Despite widespread documentation of illegal harvesting and public outcry, enforcement remains challenging when offenders aren’t caught with specimens in hand.
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