Mexico: Poaching damages Yucatecan octopus

HERBERTH ESCALANTE. THE HERALD OF MEXICO. With information from DIARIO DE YUCATÁN. Producers warn of the increase in illegal capture of species, which puts the economy of the entity at risk. Merida Yucatan. When the security authorities searched a warehouse in the Yucatecan port of Dzilam de Bravo, they found a large number of marine species that were illegally refrigerated there, which were closed: more than a ton of octopus, 37 kilos of shark, 11.5 lobster and 3.4 sea cucumber, among others. Upon entering, they found digital scales, rolls of fishing line and various instruments and catching gear, as well as another 60 kilos of cooked octopus, eight of snail and up to four live turtles and a baby crocodile. All those marine products were for the black market, an open secret on the Yucatan coast, and they usually end up in restaurants in other parts of the world. This case, which occurred at the end of July, made it clear that poaching (fishing without permission) in the entity ...