Fishy Business : Mexico Cracks Down on Illegal Chartering by U.S. Boats at Cabo San Lucas

Visitors to Cabo San Lucas, at the tip of Mexico’s Baja California, hoping to charter an American fishing yacht, may find it difficult to locate one this year.

The practice, although common, is illegal--Mexico wants Mexican skippers to get the charter business--and a recent Mexican crackdown has American yacht owners either elsewhere or lying low.

Late last month, the Sportfishing Boat Owners Section of the Services and Tourism Division of the National Chamber of Commerce of Los Cabos gathered what it said was evidence of increasing fishing charter activity by American yacht owners and presented it to the Mexican government.

Included in the presentation was a letter naming about 40 boats suspected of illegal chartering and a newsletter put out by Cortez Yacht Charters, a San Diego-based travel company owned by Larry Edwards. The newsletter advertised available charter trips in Cabo San Lucas, specifying boat names, pictures and prices.

“The Mexicans got hold of this,” Edwards admitted. “It wasn’t what got them upset, though. It was the fact that the newsletter lent credibility to the fact that so much of this (illegal chartering) was going on. . . . They used it as ammunition for the letter that went to Mexico City.”

The Mexican Navy later swept the area, checking for papers--a list of passengers has to be cleared with the port captain--primarily those of boats named in the letter. At least two American boats were confiscated for not having this passenger lists and for various other minor infractions. One, the Texas Lady, a 42-foot sportfisher owned by Joe Meiswinkel of San Francisco, has yet to be released.

Meiswinkel, a construction contractor, said that he takes only friends, family and business associates fishing on his yearly visits to the popular fishing resort. But since his boat lacked proper papers it became fair game for Mexican authorities.

“It was the last day we were there,” Meiswinkel said from his San Francisco office. “My cousin, Jim Fry, and two general contractors went out fishing. The Mexican navy boarded the boat about 20 miles off Cabo from their old rickety World War I Navy ship and with their machine guns they hold (Fry and the others) for 10 stinking hours,” he said.

“Then they took Fry and held a gun to his head for two hours. They took them to the port captain’s office and tried to get them to sign confessions that they were chartering my boat. When (after 10 hours) they asked to leave, the officials said no. But they walked out anyway and no one shot them. . . . We had no idea where they were. Their wives were furious.”

Aboard Meiswinkel’s boat were two unsigned fishing licenses, which apparently gave officials reason to believe it was involved in chartering.

“I’ve been going down there for five years and this is the first time they’ve asked for those papers (passenger list),” Meiswinkel said.

As for the unsigned fishing licenses, Meiswinkel said: “Every year I buy 20 licenses, so when someone (he invites) comes on the boat, that’s their license.”

When news of the crackdown spread, some American yacht owners--estimates vary from 8 to 22--left to avoid possible trouble. Most returned to the United States and some apparently went to the Mexican mainland, where in some cases it is legal to charter fishing trips.

One yacht owner, asking that his name not be used, said he returned to Newport Beach after a 6-month stay after learning of the crackdown. He said most of the concern has been caused by presence of smaller boats, whose owners have lacked discretion.

“The ones that know better never take anybody off the beach,” he said. “They all set up up here (in the United States). But there are so many people down there now with trailer boats. (The Mexicans) think we’re terrible because some are going into bars and taking charters. There’s not that many but, yes, that has to be controlled.”

Luis Bulnes, owner of the Solmar Hotel in Cabo San Lucas, said that the increase of American chartering has hurt the business of some Mexican operations.

“We have a fleet of about 100 boats and some owners are operating at about 50%,” he said. “They would be sitting around (with no customers) while some charter boats are (making several trips a day).”

Baja California columnist Fred Hoctor agreed.

“It started hurting their business,” he said. “There are about 30% more (American) charters this year--a lot of free-lancers, trailer boats--and it’s illegal as hell.”

Said Bill Doner, one-time owner of the Tortuga fishing fleet in Cabo San Lucas: “(Illegal chartering) has happened over and over through the years.

“It used to be like a silent code. If you wanted to charter your boat to defray your costs (of being there), you’d keep it quiet. You don’t pull in to the dock and pick (the fishermen) up, and they were doing that this year.”

Said Roberto Guerena, the secretary of the sportfishing association in Cabo San Lucas: “If those guys don’t say nothing about it, it’s no problem, but (blatant violators) broke the line.”

Nobody expects illegal chartering to end completely but Bulnes said that vigilance will continue.

“That’s up to (the violators),” he warned. “But they might run into problems if they charter, maybe in two years or maybe tomorrow. They may even lose their boat.”