By José Antonio Pérez
Closure for the 2019-2020 shrimp season in Mexican waters will officially go into effect at 00:00 hours on March 15th , with an additional closure set for March 20th in the Gulf of Tehuantepec in the southeastern part of the country.
The National Institute of Fishing & Aquaculture (INAPESCA) detailed the main objective of off-season is to protect shrimp reproduction and population growth in order to improve production levels for the upcoming season. The off-season guidelines seek to ensure future use of shrimp, which has been of notable economic and social importance for communities along the Pacific coast, including the Gulf of California, and extending to national waters, lagoons, estuaries, and bays in Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Colima, Oaxaca, and Chiapas.
As is customary, Puerto Peñasco’s annual shrimp season generally opens mid-September and lasts through early to mid-March.