Summary
This joint agreement of the agriculture, environment and navy ministries keeps the permanent gillnet ban in the same northern Gulf area as the 2017 order and extends the rules to large vessels. It also creates the Zero Tolerance Area, a 225 km² zone inside the Vaquita Refuge where all fishing and boat traffic is prohibited unless authorized in writing. It came into force on the day it was published and repealed the 2017 agreement.
Why it matters
This is the current legal basis for the gillnet ban and the Zero Tolerance Area, and it is the first of these rules signed by the Navy as well as the fisheries and environment ministries. It adds round-the-clock patrols of the Zero Tolerance Area and a program to mark fishing gear.
Key findings
- Art. 2 permanently bans all gillnets in the area, including possession, manufacture and use, and bans transporting them in the area or within a 10 km perimeter of it.
- Art. 13 sets up the Zero Tolerance Area of 225 km², a four-sided area inside the Vaquita Refuge; all fishing and boat traffic are prohibited there unless authorized in writing.
- Art. 4 bans fishing and transit in the area from 16:00 to 05:00, a longer night closure than the 21:00 to 05:00 of the 2017 order.
- From 1 January 2021 encircling nets for curvina golfina and sierra are banned, except Cucapá permits in the Delta. Permitted gear: trawl and surface nets, hook lines, longlines, traps, hookah diving.
- Transitory articles require a gear-marking program within 18 months, an enforcement plan within 30 days and a vaquita-area working group, and Octavo repeals the 30 June 2017 agreement.
Caveats
Art. 13 says the Zero Tolerance Area coordinates may be updated on the best available science through a later agreement published in the DOF, so the polygon in force may differ from this text. This entry describes the agreement as published on 24 September 2020 and does not track later changes.