“When we fish here, we catch next to nothing. Little fish. And barely any of them,” said Carlos Guerra, a Mexican citizen, who started working on the beach in December, days after being deported from Chicago. “When we cross the border, we catch so much. We make a lot of money.”Even the prospect of having their boat confiscated is not sufficient to keep them out:
His reasoning, shared by other fishermen, is that American regulations have left its shark population mostly intact while the lack of Mexican enforcement has caused years of overfishing. Fishermen endure long nights and rough seas to fish in U.S. waters — hauling in sharks they dub “gringos.”
“It’s the same game every day. They chase us, sometimes seizing our boats. And the next day we do it again,” said Eric Carillo, whose family runs a small shark fishing business just south of the border in Playa Bagdad, bringing in $5,000 to $10,000 a month. Most of their profits come from fins, but fishermen also sell shark meat to Mexico City markets.I have enormous sympathy for the Mexican fishermen here, but we simply have to do better on the enforcement. If an American company were to violate Mexican sovereignty in a similar manner, you can be sure the US government would not be in such a hurry to bring them home. Mexico is almost a failed state, and the rule of law down there is extremely weak, and very corrupt. Bay permitting this to go on largely unhindered, we allow them to steal from the American public, and further encourage the lawlessness on our southern border.
Each year, the Coast Guard apprehends dozens, seizing thousands of dollars in gear. But the fishermen spend less than 24 hours in U.S. custody, and then they are sent back across the border.
Maybe we need a new security agency,,,
See all waterman are the same ;)
ReplyDeleteNice set of Gills.
ReplyDelete