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major recent U.S. bust of a crime ring trafficking totoaba bladders and shark fins from Mexico to China highlights again that illegal fishing in Mexico is an extensive and growing problem. Public focus has centered on the poaching of the totoaba in the Sea of Cortez, where the almost-extinct porpoise vaquita marina dies in the gillnets of poachers. But illegal fishing in Mexico involves many other species and vast areas.

The Andrés Manuel López Obrador administration at first paid little attention to the issue. But it has come under intensifying economic sanctions pressure from the United States triggered by
U.S. environmental NGOs’ lawsuits. In turn, President’s López Obrador’s party MORENA proposed strengthening and elevating the role of the Mexican Navy (SEMAR) in fishery’s enforcement, setting off a new controversy about the militarization of public policy domains in Mexico. Involving SEMAR in suppressing illegal fishing is inevitable, but alone it’s not a sufficient response.