The move caps a years-long problem with U.S. efforts to protect valuable red snapper stocks along its Gulf shores.

Small Mexican boats frequently use prohibited long lines or nets to haul in snapper in U.S. waters, and then sometimes apparently even sell it back to U.S. customers. Such nets and lines can indiscriminately trap marine life.

The NOAA report slammed Mexico for “its continued failure to combat unauthorized fishing activities by small hulled vessels (called lanchas) in U.S. waters.”