One morning in early April 2024, Elías Naal Hernández set out with his fishing net to try his luck in the waters of Isla Aguada, off the coast of southeastern Mexico. The town sits between the Gulf of Mexico and the Laguna de Términos, the country’s largest coastal lagoon. Until he arrived, the fisherman could […]
  • Mongabay Latam and Data Crítica examined and compared official data of oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico, including satellite images by scientists studying oil spills and evidence compiled by fishing communities. Their analysis found that most oil spills are not reported.
  • Occasionally, even the spills that are reported are played down. The volume of the Ek’ Balam oil spill in 2023 — the most serious spill in Mexico in recent years — was under-reported by 10 to 200 times, according to calculations performed by scientists using satellite images of the disaster.
  • Between January 2018 and July 2024, the government of Mexico initiated 48 sanctioning processes against oil companies, but fines were only imposed in fewer than half of those cases. And only eight of those fines have been paid.
  • Fishers are demanding oil companies release actual data and take responsibility and the government take action to protect their environment and livelihood.

archived (Wayback Machine)