Minerva Pérez Castro, President of CANAINPESCA and CEO of Atenea en el Mar. It is believed that she may have been murdered for opposing IUU fishing.
Photo: Alpescas.
It was only a few hours ago that Mexican seafood sector leader Minerva Pérez Castro, President of Mexico's National Chamber of Fishing and Aquaculture Industries (CANAINPESCA), had made a statement to the media denouncing illegal fishing when she was killed outside the facilities of Atenea en el Mar, the seafood company specializing in bivalves in Ensenada, Baja California, of which she was the CEO.
According to local media La Jornada Baja California, the assailants ambushed her at the exit of the company in the El Sauzal district, north of Ensenada, and shot her on several occasions. After being alerted around 7:45 p.m., when police arrived at the scene found Minerva Pérez Castro in the driver's seat of an SUV with several gunshot wounds. Officers called the paramedics, but they could only certify her death.
After the events, a heavy security operation was deployed in the area. Still, although upon arrival at the scene of the crime, police officers could see a sedan-type vehicle driving away at full speed, at the time of writing this, there is no news that the murderers of the President of CANAINPESCA have been found yet.
According to another local media, the weekly Zeta Tijuana, this was not the first time Pérez Castro suffered an armed attack after assuming the presidency of Mexico's National Chamber of Fishing and Aquaculture Industries in June 2023.
In February, an armed commando attacked a house in King Coronitas - a residential area of Ensenada - while she was inside, although on that occasion the incident ended without casualties, according to Mexican media Ensenada.net.
As mentioned, hours before she was shot dead, Minerva Pérez Castro had publicly denounced extortionists who keep the Ensenada fishing sector under threat. At an event in Tijuana, she said that in recent years illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing - known as IUU fishing - had increased in the region, so she called for greater vigilance from the authorities to end this crime.
"Illegal fishing reaches the same market that the legal product reaches, but without all the production costs related to production and a legally constituted company," said the President of CANAINPESCA when asked by a reporter about how IUU fishing affects fisheries entrepreneurs. "So from that on, we are losing," she explained.
"Their processes are different because any businessman, regardless of the sector in Mexico, has a very high cost. From social security, from taxes, from the time you have a building, a boat, you have to be registered in countless local offices and all that carries an administrative cost," she continued.
Furthermore, she added, as there are no records, there is no way to quantify exactly the loss that illegal fishing generates to the sector in Mexico and that, although there have been complaints, to her knowledge, so far no arrests have been made.
In the joint statement of CANAINPESCA and the National Agricultural Council of Mexico (CNA) lamenting the death of Minerva Pérez Castro, both organizations not only demanded that the authorities clarify the facts and that justice be done but also called for the unity of the sector to confront the situation. Moreover, they urged the government "to take immediate and effective measures to stop the wave of violence that afflicts those involved in fishing and aquaculture in our country."
A prominent leader in the seafood sector, in addition to being CANAINPESCA's President and the CEO of Atenea en el Mar, she was also a member of the Mexican Council for the Promotion of Fishing and Aquaculture Products (COMEPESCA), a civil association made up of businessmen from the productive and commercial chain of the fishing and aquaculture sectors, as well as various educational, scientific and professional organizations, dedicated to promoting the consumption of Mexican fish and seafood.
Thus, reactions of condemnation for her murder have followed not only among the Mexican authorities and organizations of which she was a member but also in other places such as Spain, where the Spanish Fishing Confederation (Cepesca) has also conveyed the condemnation of the Spanish fishing sector for this murder.
One of the strongest condemnations has come from the Latin American Alliance for Sustainable Fishing (Alpescas). In addition to condemning the murder of the businesswoman and recognizing her contribution to the union's work and actions to improve the food and health of the population, the alliance showed its concern for these acts which, they said, "can be related to cartels or mafias that operate with illegal fishing".
According to Alpescas' information, after drugs and arms trafficking, IUU fishing is the third most lucrative illicit activity in the world. It is estimated that around 26 million tons of fish and other marine resources are caught illegally every year to supply a black market that moves up to USD 23 billion (EUR 21.25 billion).
While awaiting confirmation that the murder of Minerva Pérez Castro is related to complaints about the increase in illegal fishing in Baja California, Alpescas asked for a thorough investigation and claimed it is concerned about the levels of violence that some groups can exert. The alliance called on governments and authorities to focus on combating and eradicating what it described as a "scourge," and urged them to support and protect the business sector that promotes responsible and sustainable fishing and aquaculture.
"We are determined to vigorously combat illegal fishing, which after drug and arms trafficking, is the third most lucrative illicit activity in the world," said Osciel Velásquez, President of Alpescas. "In this context, it is a dangerous crime that brings much damage to the population, the ecosystem, and health," he added.
"We condemn this incident and hope that it will be investigated and justice will be done, and we urge the authorities of all Latin American countries to pay more attention to illegal fishing and prevent these cartel and mafia-like actions from happening," Velásquez concluded. Recently, organized crime has also hit Ecuador's shrimp industry.