Unauthorized Tours Harm Cancún’s Marine Park

Cancún, Mexico — Licensed service providers conducting nautical and recreational activities with full permits in the marine park between Cancún and Isla Mujeres are the most affected by the hundreds of "pirate" vessels that transport tourists from this destination. These irregular operators offer complete tours, confident they can move within the Protected Natural Area (ANP) without the required wristbands and fee payments.

The permit holders for diving and snorkeling activities, who are properly registered and pay over 100 pesos per person for wristbands to access the area, face unfair competition from irregular vessels conducting the same activity right beside them. This situation harms the local economy and causes environmental damage to the reef.

“It is so easy to enter the marine park between Isla Mujeres and Cancún that they offer snorkeling, diving, visits to the underwater museum, to the lighthouse, and to the reefs, selling the tours with complete impunity, fully aware that their vessel is not authorized and operates without wristbands or fee payments. There is an entire industry behind this,” stated Misael Fernández, a permit holder from Isla Mujeres.

According to the interviewee, the Parque Nacional Costa Occidental, Punta Cancún, Punta Nizuc e Isla Mujeres, better known as the marine park, suffers from easy access because neither the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (Conanp) nor the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) have had the physical, instrumental, or monetary capacity to provide surveillance for such a large area, which covers approximately 60 square kilometers.

“The authorities are at a disadvantage because there are between three to four thousand properly registered vessels in the area, a large number, plus the hundreds of vessels from Cancún that arrive with many people; it is impossible to cover with a single surveillance vessel,” he explained.

He indicated that the harm is to those who work under all the required permits and that if they do not comply with regulations, they could face sanctions or even lose their permits, since the park has all the information on the vessels, sailors, and captains. However, there is no way to sanction the "pirates."

The interviewee explained that if the reef has a study determining a maximum load of 20 vessels with 10 people each, and there are another 20 "pirate" nautical vessels, the capacity has already been exceeded.