US Senators for Louisiana John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy plus eight of their colleagues from states bordering the Gulf of Mexico have urged Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator Neil Jacobs to ensure that illegally-harvested red snapper from Mexican fishing operations are not sold in American markets.
Red snapper forms a part of Louisiana’s nearly US$2 billion seafood economy, as well as the economies of other Gulf states. However, unauthorised Mexican fishing operations, often linked to cartels, have increasingly profited from the sale of red snapper illegally caught in the Gulf.
“We write to express concern regarding the continued illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing for red snapper by Mexican vessels operating in US waters in the Gulf,” the senators began their letter to Under Secretary Jacobs.
“The coast guard has demonstrated sustained and effective operational enforcement through repeated interdictions and seizures; however, the continued presence of Mexican lanchas in US waters suggests that enforcement at sea alone is insufficient.
"We urge [NOAA] to use its import-restriction authorities, and other applicable authorities, to address this problem in a targeted and proportionate manner that supports law-abiding US fisheries."
The senators said that despite fewer vessel interdictions in 2025 than the previous year, the volume of illegally harvested red snapper seized by the coast guard rose 28 per cent, reaching 15,859 pounds (7,194 kg).
"Furthermore, a recent DHS Office of Inspector General report found that the coast guard interdicts only one in every five detected foreign fishing vessels, leaving nearly 80 per cent of illegal incursions unchallenged and free to enter domestic commerce through opaque supply chains," the lawmakers explained.
The senators said the Gulf red snapper fishery is a highly regulated domestic fishery that is shared between recreational and commercial harvesters.
"Allocation of the fishery between domestic stakeholders is a topic of intense policy discussion and high-level decision making, reflecting the immense value of the fishery to our nation. Mexican IUU-caught fish steals that value from both sets of American stakeholders."
Reports from the Department of the Treasury indicate that these lanchas are not operating as isolated or subsistence fishing ventures, but as organised operations increasingly linked to the Gulf Cartel, one of Mexico’s most dangerous criminal organisations, the senators wrote.
"The continued ability to sell illegally harvested red snapper into the US market is a powerful financing source for the cartel and undermines both US fisheries management and national security.
"“We would appreciate NOAA Fisheries’ action in more aggressively applying its existing authorities to ensure that illegally harvested red snapper is not sold in the United States."