Chetumal, Quintana Roo — Quintana Roo’s rich fishing resources, a vital economic and tourism asset, are entering a worrying phase of depletion, according to a researcher from the College of the Southern Border (Ecosur).
Eloy Sosa Cordero, a researcher at Ecosur’s Chetumal unit, stated that fishing activity in the sea operates like a “hunt” without investment or cultivation, inevitably leading to a decline in the most sought-after species.
Quintana Roo is known for highly demanded species that fetch good prices in the market, especially in the tourism sector. These include the emblematic and valuable conch, shrimp, and fish such as grouper, hogfish, snook, and snapper.
“They are fish highly requested by tourism for their excellent flavor, white meat, and culinary versatility; the hogfish, in particular, is very prized,” Sosa Cordero said.
He noted that while some species like grouper remain abundant, their levels are significantly lower than those recorded in past decades.
“The abundance trend for many key species is clearly downward, with groupers, for example, being less numerous today than in the nineties or the year 2000,” he indicated.
The main factor in this decline is that open-sea fishing is an extractive activity without production management. Unlike aquaculture, no one plants anything or invests in restocking or caring for the marine ecosystem, as fishermen simply “take what they can,” driven by demand and without effective practical limits.
He explained that the only way to reverse this trend and secure the future of fishing in Quintana Roo is by investing in management, conservation, and persuasion efforts.
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