Along Mexico’s Yucatán coast, women are playing an important role in protecting marine resources from illegal fishing and overexploitation, despite receiving little official recognition. In Yucatán, women account for just 1.16% of people registered as fishers, even as women-led groups carry out monitoring and conservation work in communities including Celestún, San Felipe and Río Lagartos.
In August 2025, Mongabay Latam published a report by journalists Itzel Chan and Miguel Cocom. The article documented how members of the Guardianas del Mar (Guardians of the Sea, in English) had organized voluntarily to monitor marine resources, document suspected illegal fishing and submit evidence to authorities amid limited government surveillance and enforcement.
Yucatán leads Mexico in complaints concerning the illegal commercialization of marine species, accounting for more than 32% of the national total. Between 2009 and 2024, authorities seized or retained more than 4,579 metric tons of illegally sourced marine fishery products in the state.
Limited institutional surveillance and a lack of funding for enforcement have led women to organize voluntarily to defend their marine territory. To carry out their monitoring and surveillance work, they have trained in diving, drone operation and data analysis.
The article is part of Mongabay Latam’s Sin mujeres no hay pesca (Without women, there is no fishing, in English) Special Issue, which documents the often overlooked roles women play in fisheries across Latin America.
Impact
Six months after the article was published, Mexican environmental authorities formally established a Participatory Environmental Monitoring Committee in Celestún, creating a mechanism for collaboration between local residents and government agencies.
“The formation of the Committee responds to a request from the public, particularly from the group Guardianas del Mar, which is interested in having a mechanism for public participation to strengthen the protection and conservation of Celestún’s natural resources,” Mexico’s Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA) said in a February 2026 announcement.
Under the new arrangement, the committee will work directly with environmental authorities and receive technical training. PROFEPA also committed to following up on environmental requests and complaints submitted by the committee.
Esther Yerves, one of the women involved in monitoring the Celestún fishing refuge and interviewed for Mongabay’s reporting, told Chan that officials from the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) and PROFEPA had contacted her to sign an agreement recognizing the marine monitoring committee. Yerves directly credited Mongabay’s coverage with helping the group reach this milestone.
“We’re about to sign,” said Yerves. “And it was thanks to the article about the Guardianas de Celestún.”
As part of this formalization process, the women would work directly with the authorities and receive technical training while establishing concrete commitments, such as following up on environmental complaints.
The committee’s formal recognition gives the Guardianas del Mar a direct channel to work with environmental authorities and strengthens their ability to report threats to Celestún’s marine resources. By bringing greater visibility to their monitoring efforts and the enforcement gaps they were working to address, Mongabay’s reporting contributed to greater institutional recognition of women-led marine conservation in Yucatán.
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Banner image: Caption: Ten women in Río Lagartos, Celestún, and San Felipe are conducting monitoring to assess conservation levels offshore. Photo courtesy of Natalia Gutiérrez.