{"id":2435966,"date":"2025-05-17T14:26:02","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T18:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/illegal-fishing-cartels-expand-criminal-activity-beyond-drug-human-smuggling-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-05-17T14:30:04","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T18:30:04","slug":"illegal-fishing-cartels-expand-criminal-activity-beyond-drug-human-smuggling-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/illegal-fishing-cartels-expand-criminal-activity-beyond-drug-human-smuggling-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Illegal fishing: Cartels expand criminal activity beyond drug, human smuggling &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fillegal-fishing-cartels-expand-criminal-activity-beyond-drug-human-smuggling-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2435966&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses the evolution of Mexican cartels, highlighting their expansion into various criminal activities beyond drug trafficking. These activities include kidnapping, extortion, illegal mining, petroleum theft, and particularly illegal fishing. the illegal fishing operations, prominently conducted by the Gulf Cartel, involve the exploitation of marine resources, including red snapper and shark, through fast boats named &#8220;lanchas.&#8221; The U.S. government has classified several Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations due to their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/feds-break-up-group-smuggling-fentanyl-over-the-border-in-fire-extinguishers\/\" title=\"Feds bust fentanyl smuggling gang using fire extinguishers at ...\">transnational criminal activities<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>experts indicate that these cartels illegally regulate local fishers and impose severe threats to ensure compliance, frequently enough demanding payment in drugs. This growing criminal influence in the fishing industry poses meaningful risks to marine ecosystems and the rights of local fishing communities. Additionally, the article notes the implications of these activities on the U.S. economy and the broader implications for law enforcement as efforts intensify to disrupt these criminal networks and their ability to profit from such illegal practices.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Illegal fishing: Cartels expand criminal activity beyond drug, human smuggling<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2123834\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><strong>(The Center Square) &mdash;<\/strong> The modern cartels in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/Mexico\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Mexico<\/a> supply the illicit drug market in America, but they&rsquo;ve also shifted to new criminal schemes, diversifying into kidnapping, extortion, illegal mining,&nbsp;petroleum theft and illegal fishing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>President Donald Trump moved to classify the six Mexican cartels as foreign <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/terrorism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">terrorist organizations<\/a> early in his term. Experts often call them <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blackburn-cartels-traffickers-exploiting-unfinished-border-wall-construction\/\" title=\"Blackburn: Cartels, Traffickers Exploiting Unfinished ... Wall Construction\">transnational criminal organizations<\/a> because their reach has expanded into other illegal markets. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and Treasury Department also are targeting cartels for moving black-market oil and gas across the Texas-Mexico border, The Center Square&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/national\/article_859f6fd7-a1a5-4acd-8fd5-c9bca02b7043.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/crime\/3414998\/las-vegas-gym-shooting\/\">2 dead and at least 3 injured in Las Vegas gym shooting, police say<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3414042\/san-francisco-public-defender-says-caseload-is-too-heavy-will-scale-back-service\/\">San Francisco public defender says caseload is too heavy, will scale back service<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3410265\/menendez-brothers-resentenced-possibility-of-parole\/\">Menendez brothers resentenced to 50 years to life with the possibility of parole<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3292730\/all-executive-orders-actions-trump-first-day\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">FULL LIST OF EXECUTIVE ORDERS, ACTIONS, AND PROCLAMATIONS TRUMP HAS MADE AS PRESIDENT<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Cartels use other violent criminal activities to protect their drug operations and grow revenue, according to the DEA&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dea.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2025-05\/2025%20National%20Drug%20Threat%20Assessment_Web%205-12-2025.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">report<\/a>. They also engage in money laundering, extortion, petroleum theft, theft of other natural resources, weapons trafficking, human smuggling, prostitution, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/chris-christie-wont-commit-to-a-federal-six-week-abortion-ban\/\" title=\"Chris Christie won&#039;t commit to a federal six...week abortion ban\">illegal wildlife trade<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The illicit profits from these&nbsp;peripheral activities make the cartels more resilient and increase their ability to expand, according to the DEA report.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In November, the U.S. Treasury Department hit five members of the&nbsp;Gulf Cartel with sanctions over the group&rsquo;s illegal fishing in the Gulf of America, which includes illicit trade in&nbsp;red snapper and shark species. For this, they use small, fast-boat operations called &ldquo;lanchas.&rdquo; The Gulf Cartel&rsquo;s illegal fishing operations are based out of Playa Bagdad, also known as Playa Costa Azul, a beach several miles south of the U.S. border. Cartels use the same fast boats to smuggle drugs and people, as well.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Treasury, as part of a whole-of-government approach to combatting transnational criminal organizations, remains committed to disrupting these networks and restricting these groups&rsquo; ability to profit from these activities,&rdquo; Treasury officials said at the time.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3352698\/trump-executive-orders-struck-down\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ELEVEN TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDERS THAT HAVE BEEN STRUCK DOWN<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing often involves forced labor and human rights abuses. Unregulated fishing practices further pose issues for ocean health and are one cause of global overfishing. They also contribute to the collapse or decline of fisheries that are critical to the economic growth, food systems, and ecosystems of countries worldwide, Treasury noted.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cartels began muscling in on illegal fishing years ago and have only grown bolder, said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow in the Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings.<\/p>\n<p>The takeover started with criminal groups targeting fishers poaching protected species. Then they started extorting and regulating fishers harvesting low-value seafood. Cartels often only allowed fishers to sell solely to them.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Large companies fishing high-value species, particularly for export, were the last to be targeted, but are increasingly under pressure too,&rdquo;&nbsp;Felbab-Brown noted in a Brookings&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.brookings.edu\/articles\/organized-crime-is-taking-over-mexican-fisheries\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">report<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Cartels sometimes demand&nbsp;that communities sell them their fish harvests under threat of death. Other times, they tell the locals what&nbsp;species they want and set quotas for delivery. Cartels &ldquo;violently punish non-compliance with those demands,&rdquo;&nbsp;Felbab-Brown noted. That&rsquo;s not the only difference. Cartels sometimes only pay in illegal drugs, such as methamphetamine.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It&rsquo;s not just fishing; the cartels&rsquo; reach extends to processing and sales.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Next, they establish halcones (spy) presence in communities and processing plants and demand that the processing plants process seafood brought in by the cartels and fake documents for it,&rdquo;&nbsp;Felbab-Brown noted.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>DEA officials are targeting a Mexican transnational criminal organization, recently designated as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawmakers-consider-enacting-statute-to-increase-punishments-for-domestic-terrorism\/\" title=\"Lawmakers consider enacting statute to increase punishments for domestic terrorism\">foreign terrorist organization<\/a>, involved in smuggling methamphetamine, heroin, and black-market oil and gas across the Texas-Mexico border. The investigation has identified multiple cartel leaders who have ties to multiple cartels in Mexico. Officials said the ongoing investigation found the criminal groups were stealing and smuggling crude oil from PEMEX, Mexico&rsquo;s state-owned petroleum company, into the United States. The groups then sell the stolen oil to U.S. oil and gas companies as part of a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >sophisticated trade-based money laundering scheme<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/in_focus\/3409886\/trump-middle-east-strategy-saudi-arabia-israel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">WHY TRUMP IS BOOSTING SAUDI ARABIA AND SIDELINING BENJAMIN NETANYAHU<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This could be pushing up prices at the pump for U.S. drivers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It is estimated that Mexico is losing tens of billions in tax revenue annually, while simultaneously costing the U.S. oil and gas companies billions of dollars annually due to a decline in petroleum imports and exports during this same period,&rdquo; the DEA report noted. &ldquo;The focus will now shift to U.S. companies and members involved in facilitating this illicit Mexican petroleum smuggling operation.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2123834\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2123834\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Illegal fishing: Cartels broaden criminal activities beyond drugs and human smuggling<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2869,"featured_media":2435967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/AP25027710663013.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[13819,39853,38683,38427,55449],"class_list":["post-2435966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cartels","tag-criminal-activity","tag-drug-smuggling","tag-human-trafficking","tag-illegal-fishing"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/AP25027710663013.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2869"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2435966"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2435970,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435966\/revisions\/2435970"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2435967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2435966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2435966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2435966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}