CORPUS CHRISTI – Coast Guard law enforcement crews from Corpus Christi interdicted a Mexican lancha boat crew illegally fishing off the Texas coast on Sunday.
According to the Coast Guard, the lancha had 15 Snapper and 59 shark totaling 643 pounds aboard the vessel. Four Mexican fishermen onboard were detained and transferred to border enforcement agents for processing.
“The illegal fishing of red snapper causes over 11 million dollars in lost revenue each year to U.S commercial fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Cmdr. Charles Hawkins, the chief of response at Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi. “Deterring this and other illicit activity on the U.S./Mexico maritime boundary line is one of our top priorities.”
A lancha is a Mexican fishing boat approximately 20-30 feet long with a slender profile. Typically the lancha has one outboard motor, is capable of traveling at speeds exceeding 30 mph and is frequently used to fish illegally in the United States’ Exclusive Economic Zone near the U.S./Mexico border in the Gulf of Mexico.
