U.S. and Mexico officials discuss fishing visas

Written by
Ed Zieralski
5:06 p.m., Jan. 13, 2012
Updated 5:21 p.m.

The meeting held Friday between Mexican and U.S. officials to discuss the new and costly maritime visa required for U.S. anglers in Mexico failed to deliver any immediate solutions to the controversy swirling over the documents.

The bottom line is that the high-priced visa remains a requirement for fishermen who fish within 24 miles of Mexican-controlled land or islands. This particularly affects private boats along with half-, three-quarter- and full-day commercial passenger sport boats out of San Diego.

Ken Franke, president of the Sportfishing Association of California, attended the meeting, but he said both sides agreed to hold off on commenting until the Mexican government issues a press release. A call placed to the Mexican consulate office in San Diego was not returned.

Many anglers see right through this latest shakedown by the Mexican government of U.S. citizens. For decades, anglers have been paying for Mexican fishing licenses or Mexican fishing permits to fish in Mexico. Prior to 2008, U.S.-based sport boats paid for a boat permit based on the tonnage of the boat. The tab was as much as $1,200 a month for some boats.

But now, average anglers are being asked to pay the tab to fish there. The visa fee nearly doubles the cost of an angler’s half-day trip into Mexican waters aboard a sport boat out of one of the landings. It raises by one-third the cost of a three-quarter-day trip. And it’s the same thing for a private boater who wants to fish marlin outside of North Island of the Coronados or the Finger Bank to the south. The $33 cost of the visa per angler must be added to the high price of fuel.

Walt Gutjhar, a veteran angler at Southwestern Yacht Club and the Marlin Club, said it smacks of the extreme environmentalism by Greenpeace that drove the tuna fleet out of San Diego in the 1970s.

“In that case they used a porpoise thrashing in a net and heading for the tuna boat’s power block,” Gutjahr said. “We have the best sportfishing fleet in the world, and we’ve always been able to fish in Mexican waters. Now, not only do we have less and less open water to fish on the U.S. side due to the Marine Life Protection Act, but now there’s this visa requirement from Mexico. To me, it looks like a big move to get our sport fleet out of San Diego and have to operate out of Ensenada in order to fish in Mexico.”

Others see San Diego’s long-range fleet coming out of all this without a scrape while the half-, three-quarter- and full-day boats slowly “are bleeding to death” at the rail. Critics look at the visa fee structure and can make no sense out of it. The fees appease and protect long-range boats that run out of San Diego, while the other boats are thrown under the dock.

It costs half-day anglers, or private boaters, $33 for a three-day visa to fish one day, not three, in Mexico. Meantime, a long-range angler pays $38 for a nine-day visa. It’s $43 for 10-day voyages and more, so that amounts to the long-range angler who pays thousands of dollars to board a boat only having to pay $10 more than a half-day angler to take an 18-day or longer trip.

Irv Grisbeck, who owns the sport boat Big Game 90, was particularly critical of the fees.

“I don’t know if it was malicious or naivete, but all I know is the long-range fleet benefits from this and this gets them back into Guadalupe Island without having to go through customs or have a special permit,” Grisbeck said. “This whole thing started with the Guadalupe Island mess, and the need for special permits or passports on long-range boats. Now this company selling visas (Mex Tour Assist) is looking to make between $750,000 and $1 million a year off fishermen who need visas. The whole thing stinks of insider trading.”

Grisbeck said Mexico is cutting off its pipeline of money from U.S. anglers because fishermen won’t pay these fees, and even more will sour on going to Mexico at all for anything.

“So many guys are afraid to criticize Mexico because they’re afraid we will lose our privilege to fish there,” Grisbeck said. “What’s the difference? They’re just slowly bleeding us to death anyway. Pretty soon, our industry here is going to be nothing but half-day boats and the big Cadillacs that go long-range fishing, with absolutely nothing in between.”

In addition to the visa controversy there’s also the matter of the Malihini, a three-quarter-day boat out of H&M Landing, being kicked out of the Middle Grounds of the Coronado Islands last Saturday by a Mexican patrol boat. Capt. Mike Schmidt was asked for a boat permit that no longer is required by U.S. boats. Since he didn’t have it, Schmidt was instructed to tell his anglers it was his fault they were being kicked out of Mexico. Schmidt lost the cost of the trip at $5,375 and also had to cover the cost of the anglers’ visas at $1,200 and other expenses such as crew salaries and supplies.

U.S. and Mexico officials discuss fishing visas | UTSanDiego.com