BajaNomad

Update: Bringing Frozen Fish To Mexico

monoloco - 8-17-2014 at 10:18 AM

Does anyone know if there are any restrictions to bringing frozen fish into Mexico. I am planning on bringing 2 50# boxes back with me on the plane and want to avoid any problems.

[Edited on 9-4-2014 by monoloco]

BajaBlanca - 8-17-2014 at 01:45 PM

into Mexico I have no idea but it was no issue when Les's brother took about the same amount back to Europe when he returned 4 years ago.

monoloco - 8-17-2014 at 01:58 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BajaBlanca
into Mexico I have no idea but it was no issue when Les's brother took about the same amount back to Europe when he returned 4 years ago.
I know that it's no problem to take fish north, but a friend of mine had several cases of smoked salmon, that he had canned, confiscated at the border a couple of years ago. I didn't find anything in the regulations specifically banning frozen fish, but there was something about bringing up to 15 kilos of food for personal consumption. I don't object to paying a duty on it if necessary, but I'll be very peeed if they confiscate 100# of king salmon and black cod after going to the trouble and expense of transporting it.

woody with a view - 8-17-2014 at 02:01 PM

take a friend to split the goods.

monoloco - 8-17-2014 at 02:04 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by woody with a view
take a friend to split the goods.
I'm flying from Sitka so that would be difficult.

woody with a view - 8-17-2014 at 02:16 PM

can they put it on a second plane for you and you can pick it up a few days later? kinda like sending a package on a bus, only quicker!

Howard - 8-17-2014 at 02:26 PM

I think the problem will be in the fact that they will not believe you that it is for personal use. Their major concern will be that you are going to re-sell it.

If it were me, I would have a separate zip lock in a plastic bag with around 5 LBS of the Salmon and ask the officer to please sample some of your fish with his family. Mordida, si but it might work depending on the mood of the officer and if anyone else was watching.

I think that if you wanted to drop off around 10 LBS of Salmon at my place when you stop in Los Angeles, that would help your situation! biggrin:

Let us know how it went.

[Edited on 8-17-2014 by Howard]

monoloco - 8-17-2014 at 02:34 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by woody with a view
can they put it on a second plane for you and you can pick it up a few days later? kinda like sending a package on a bus, only quicker!
It would be hard because there is no way to make a same day connection from Sitka to Cabo, so it has to be put in a freezer overnight in Seattle.

monoloco - 8-17-2014 at 02:37 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Howard
I think the problem will be in the fact that they will not believe you that it is for personal use. Their major concern will be that you are going to re-sell it.

If it were me, I would have a separate zip lock in a plastic bag with around 5 LBS of the Salmon and ask the officer to please sample some of your fish with his family. Mordida, si but it might work depending on the mood of the officer and if anyone else was watching.

I think that if you wanted to drop off around 10 LBS of Salmon at my place when you stop in Los Angeles, that would help your situation! biggrin:

Let us know how it went.

[Edited on 8-17-2014 by Howard]
Yeah, I guess I'll find out. It's all commercially vacuum packed in 1# chunks so it would be easy to pull out a few for the aduana guy.

chuckie - 8-17-2014 at 03:08 PM

My name is "Chuckie Aduana"...Thanks...

Bob and Susan - 8-17-2014 at 03:30 PM

who is going to eat 100 pounds of salmon???

lets do some math
1 pound a meal
100 meals
that's salmon 3 times a week
I'm already sick of salmon:lol:

you'll be paying import fees for sure

Feathers - 8-17-2014 at 03:31 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by chuckie
My name is "Chuckie Aduana"...Thanks...


You crack me up. :lol:

Mula - 8-17-2014 at 03:42 PM

We lost our non commercial frozen copper river red salmon in Loreto because it did not have a commercial label on it.

And jars of copper river red smoked. - lost too.

monoloco - 8-17-2014 at 03:55 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bob and Susan
who is going to eat 100 pounds of salmon???

lets do some math
1 pound a meal
100 meals
that's salmon 3 times a week
I'm already sick of salmon:lol:

you'll be paying import fees for sure
Don't worry, we'll eat all of that salmon, some black cod and short raker too. I've been eating it almost everyday for 4 months, and I'm not sick of it yet. Can't wait to get the smoker going.

monoloco - 8-17-2014 at 04:02 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Mula
We lost our non commercial frozen copper river red salmon in Loreto because it did not have a commercial label on it.

And jars of copper river red smoked. - lost too.
Now you're making me nervous. I applied lodge lodge labels with the species on them, does that count?

weebray - 8-17-2014 at 04:53 PM

High on the list of reasons we live here is the fact that we can buy the freshest fish in the world right here at the local market. I don't get it. Also, a hunnert pounds of fish is clearly excessive. If customs doesn't give you grief I will be extremely surprised. They were unhappy with us for bringing a case of paper towels. I say give all your friends up north a thoughtful gift and bring a reasonable amount to remember your adventure.

wiltonh - 8-17-2014 at 05:03 PM

I have a friend that flew from Oregon to La Paz with a lot of frozen elk meet. They would not let it in so he asked if they could store it in a freezer for a week or so as his friend was flying back to Oregon and could take the meat. They said yes and then checked on their freezer size. It was not nearly big enough.

They then stamped all the packages with some sort of official stamp and gave him the meat. He took it home and then has friend took it back to the airport the next week when he flew back to Oregon.

Seems strange but it worked.

wetto - 8-17-2014 at 05:40 PM

sound like a great fiesta is about to take place in someone's Mexican pueblo.

I lost a lot of frozen standing lamb roast one year flying into Cabo one year. They cited mad cow disease. I cited lamb not beef...they cited, we can take it. They did. Someone had a nice fiesta.

monoloco - 8-17-2014 at 05:59 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by weebray
High on the list of reasons we live here is the fact that we can buy the freshest fish in the world right here at the local market. I don't get it. Also, a hunnert pounds of fish is clearly excessive. If customs doesn't give you grief I will be extremely surprised. They were unhappy with us for bringing a case of paper towels. I say give all your friends up north a thoughtful gift and bring a reasonable amount to remember your adventure.
Get off your high horse weebray, who are you to say what's excessive or reasonable, I spent a lot of time and money catching and processing that fish, and a better product can't be found, an Alaska non-resident fishing license and king salmon tag alone is $250, plus all my friends up here are commercial salmon trollers or fishing guides, so they aren't really in need of fish. Everyday, sports fishermen haul home coolers full of fish from their fishing charter trips in Cabo, to Canada, the US, Europe, and other locations, I don't see why a Mexico resident shouldn't be able to do the same. The best thing that I can do with it is take it home and eat it with my friends in Baja.

monoloco - 8-17-2014 at 06:25 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by weebray
High on the list of reasons we live here is the fact that we can buy the freshest fish in the world right here at the local market. I don't get it. Also, a hunnert pounds of fish is clearly excessive. If customs doesn't give you grief I will be extremely surprised. They were unhappy with us for bringing a case of paper towels. I say give all your friends up north a thoughtful gift and bring a reasonable amount to remember your adventure.
Oh and by the way, that "fresh" fish in the market was caught by a pangero who didn't bleed it, threw it in a fish box that may or may not have had ice, and by the time you buy it from the market it could be over a week old. That fish from the market doesn't hold a candle to fish that was properly bled and iced, then processed the same day. That is why I fish.

durrelllrobert - 8-18-2014 at 04:44 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by monoloco
Quote:
Originally posted by weebray
High on the list of reasons we live here is the fact that we can buy the freshest fish in the world right here at the local market. I don't get it. Also, a hunnert pounds of fish is clearly excessive. If customs doesn't give you grief I will be extremely surprised. They were unhappy with us for bringing a case of paper towels. I say give all your friends up north a thoughtful gift and bring a reasonable amount to remember your adventure.
Oh and by the way, that "fresh" fish in the market was caught by a pangero who didn't bleed it, threw it in a fish box that may or may not have had ice, and by the time you buy it from the market it could be over a week old. That fish from the market doesn't hold a candle to fish that was properly bled and iced, then processed the same day. That is why I fish.

When I lived at Half Moon Bay I would often come home from work, launch my boat and go catch one salmon and cook it for dinner that night. Can't get any fresher than that.

On occasion I would catch two, cook one and smoke the other in the smoker I made from an old all metal fridge and an oil drum for the fire box.

CaboMagic - 8-18-2014 at 05:05 PM

monoloco - would love to help take some of that delish fish off your hands :-) ok all kidding aside.. respectfully suggest you contact SJD airport aduana - in advance of your travel - and explain your situation .. before things got really 'organized' at the airport, we shipped merchandise once per month - approved by the FAA as a known shipper to handle our own freight forwarding .. whichever airlines you are flying, they know who their airport aduana is .. none of the numbers I have from 1994-2002 work (tried them for you) .. Its likely you may need to donate a bag or 2/3 ..

Magic and fishy best wishes!! LG

[Edited on 8-19-2014 by CaboMagic]

monoloco - 8-18-2014 at 05:12 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by CaboMagic
monoloco - would love to help take some of that delish fish off your hands :-) ok all kidding aside.. respectfully suggest you contact SJD airport aduana - in advance of your travel - and explain your situation .. before things got really 'organized' at the airport, we shipped merchandise once per month - approved by the FAA as a known shipper to handle our own freight forwarding .. whichever airlines you are flying, they know who their airport aduana is .. none of the numbers I have from 1994-2002 work (tried them for you) .. Its likely you may need to donate a bag or 2/3 ..

Magic and fishy best wishes!! LG

[Edited on 8-19-2014 by CaboMagic]
Thanks for that. My wife is going to call aduana and find out what the reglas are. I let everyone know when I find out. I did find one person who flew in with one box last year with no hassles, I will have two though.

weebray - 8-18-2014 at 06:08 PM

I stand by my post high on my horse. 100lbs. of frozen fish is totally unreasonable. I have seen this scenario too many times. Too much fish for one family unit to consume in a reasonable time gets put in a freezer. Last year when the power went out for almost a day in our small barrio in Newport Beach, my neighbor, a BIG Baja fisherman brought me some frozen Dorado that was thawing. Have you ever seen old "fresh" fish. It was not bad but it was inedible, yellow, tough - not even good for bait. Oh I know, you're gonna get all huffy and tell us how you eat 4lbs. a day and love it. I call BS, I know better. I too have friends that fish salmon in Alaska, they came home early this year hoping for aid from the government because of a lousy season.

weebray - 8-18-2014 at 06:17 PM

Quote:
.

On occasion I would catch two, cook one and smoke the other in the smoker I made from an old all metal fridge and an oil drum for the fire box.


Good on you, I wish more fishermen would respect the resource and only take what they could consume immediately. I speak from experience here having overfished in the past. You "get into the fish" and it's like a drug, you can't stop. I have been on many charter boats up and down the west coast. They all have posted limits but that all goes out the window when you hit it big. It's human nature. The loggers would take every tree if they were allowed to.

woody with a view - 8-18-2014 at 06:28 PM

a vacuum sealer keeps fish like new for over 2 years.....

just saying!

MMc - 8-18-2014 at 07:30 PM

I often wind up with 400# to 900# of processed tuna we go though it in a year, some is Christmas gifts. A long range boat with 15 fish from 150# to 200 plus pounds adds up quick. 100 pounds of salmon seems about right for a good trip.Good luck getting it home!

When I first read the thread headline, The first thought was taking sand to the beach. After reading I hope you can get it home.

woody with a view - 8-18-2014 at 07:36 PM

Damn, Mac. hook a brother up!

windgrrl - 8-18-2014 at 07:38 PM

Cabo COSTCO imports and sells big slabs of fresh salmon and packaged smoked salmon, so there must be a way....

Mula - 8-18-2014 at 08:27 PM

The thing is - in Loreto at least - you can not get packed frozen fish from the north in - unless is has a commercial market label on it. Or canned - either. . . . from recent experience. . . .

monoloco - 8-18-2014 at 09:52 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Mula
The thing is - in Loreto at least - you can not get packed frozen fish from the north in - unless is has a commercial market label on it. Or canned - either. . . . from recent experience. . . .
I might have to "engineer" some labels in Sitka.

monoloco - 8-18-2014 at 10:53 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by weebray
I stand by my post high on my horse. 100lbs. of frozen fish is totally unreasonable. I have seen this scenario too many times. Too much fish for one family unit to consume in a reasonable time gets put in a freezer. Last year when the power went out for almost a day in our small barrio in Newport Beach, my neighbor, a BIG Baja fisherman brought me some frozen Dorado that was thawing. Have you ever seen old "fresh" fish. It was not bad but it was inedible, yellow, tough - not even good for bait. Oh I know, you're gonna get all huffy and tell us how you eat 4lbs. a day and love it. I call BS, I know better. I too have friends that fish salmon in Alaska, they came home early this year hoping for aid from the government because of a lousy season.
You're funny weebray, I paid $100 for a king salmon stamp that entitles me to an annual limit of 6 fish, I'm bringing home half of my annual limit, and I certainly am the last one who needs a lecture about preserving fish. And guess what, mr. self appointed arbiter of what's reasonable to retain? That king salmon will likely be consumed before xmas, along with 100 lbs. of fresh fish from Baja. Oh, and by the way, there was a huge return of kings in SE this year with some power trollers having 1000 fish days, that's about 100k in one day, so I don't think that there's many folks around here who will be getting aid from the govt.

Mula - 8-19-2014 at 06:26 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by monoloco
Quote:
Originally posted by Mula
The thing is - in Loreto at least - you can not get packed frozen fish from the north in - unless is has a commercial market label on it. Or canned - either. . . . from recent experience. . . .
I might have to "engineer" some labels in Sitka.


I would definitely look into that!!!;D

[Edited on 8-19-2014 by Mula]

weebray - 8-20-2014 at 03:08 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by MMc
I often wind up with 400# to 900# of processed tuna we go though it in a year, some is Christmas gifts.


Congratulations, You just became my poster boy for exactly what I am talking about - out of control overfishermen. I printed your post to show to my friends when making a point about the senseless slaughter of a precious resource. You prove my point. Let's look at some facts here. Frozen fish is good for about 3-4 mo. before it starts to degrade. Especially tuna or salmon which are very fatty fish. Cod, catfish, triggerfish, etc. can be successfully kept for up to 6mo. This assumes it is frozen almost immediately after being caught. Four hundred pounds of fish equals 800 or more servings. We love fish and eat it 2 or 3 times a week but if I served my family 800 fish dinners in 3 or 4 months there would be munity here. The only way to change this statistic is to serve fish that is over 4 months old. I owned a retail fish market for ten years and I know that frozen fish over 4 months old is only fair to poor to eat. You can tell me all day how you vacuum pack and freeze it under the most rigorous of conditions (which by the way, you don't), it's still bait after 4 months. You're not going to cop to it but I know you're throwing a bunch of fish away. Case dismissed.

bajacalifornian - 8-20-2014 at 04:07 PM

. . . . Why . . . ?

MMc - 8-20-2014 at 04:08 PM

Weebay, we will disagree on this. I have never gone over limits PERIOD... I do not poach anything at all. I take a 10 trip that leaves and returns right before Christmas (Christmas gifts). Any fish under 125# swims away, as do the most of the fish under 150#.
I am fishing for big fish.Do the math 600# at 50% yeald = 1200# of fish caught. 15 fish limit. I don't fill my limit most trips. I will always keep a slot upon if I get one over 200# the SD long range boats use RSW, spike and wire the fish when they come aboard. All the meat is packaged at 5star or fisherman's packaging If you don't know these packing houses look them up. Better fish is only in Japan.
One of the 3 days is kayak trip out to the islands. Size is small and No slow growing fish are keep. The other 3 day is a offshore for mostly YT.I spend Easter Sunday smoking and canning what ever is left.

When you were selling fish did you sell, Chillinan Sea Bass, Shark, Calico bass, Swordfish any other spices that isn't sustaining it's self. I do not consume anything that is not on the the sustainable fisheries list. I have been sportsman all my life. Will print and show you friends this one?

[Edited on 8-20-2014 by MMc]

chuckie - 8-20-2014 at 04:37 PM

When I leave Colorado , for Baja each year, I have a good size freezer of Elk and Antelope, with a bunch of Pheasants thrown in for ballast....Using weebrays logic this is almost all wasted....Danged if its not all gone when I leave, with a lot of smiley friends in the wake.....

mtgoat666 - 8-20-2014 at 04:37 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by MMc
Weebay, we will disagree on this. I have never gone over limits PERIOD... I do not poach anything at all. I take a 10 trip that leaves and returns right before Christmas (Christmas gifts). Any fish under 125# swims away, as do the most of the fish under 150#.
I am fishing for big fish.Do the math 600# at 50% yeald = 1200# of fish caught. 15 fish limit. I don't fill my limit most trips. I will always keep a slot upon if I get one over 200# the SD long range boats use RSW, spike and wire the fish when they come aboard. All the meat is packaged at 5star or fisherman's packaging If you don't know these packing houses look them up. Better fish is only in Japan.
One of the 3 days is kayak trip out to the islands. Size is small and No slow growing fish are keep. The other 3 day is a offshore for mostly YT.I spend Easter Sunday smoking and canning what ever is left.


600 lbs of fish is ridiculous. How much freezer space do you have? What's your BMI? Eating tuna frequently, especially and big tuna, is going to expose you to high mercury.

weebray - 8-20-2014 at 05:01 PM

Actually the yield of "meat" from a whole tuna is 33% ergo almost a ton of tuna to yield 600 pounds. If you were a poor Mexican pescadero living in a rag diaper maybe you could eat that much fish, but you're not. If you have the $ to go on one of the tuna boats out of SD you also have enough money to buy quality beef, pork, lamb and tofu. You're not going to eat that much fish period. I have seen it too many times. If you are honest with yourself you will admit that a bunch of fish is wasted. OK, let's say you really do eat that much of the same species over and over and over again for months. How about the thousands of other overfishermen that catch a ton. One thousand overfishermen = 0ne thousand tons! And don't lecture me about sustainability, the tuna stocks are in big trouble. Mexico closed the Bluefin season because of the paucity of fish. They only recently opened it back up for sport fishing. Where do you think the political pressure against that action came from. I won't mention any names but do the initials Cabo Magic ring a bell?

chuckie - 8-20-2014 at 05:02 PM

So? rent yourself out as a thermometer......Regardless of all this theoretical BS, I suspect most of these fish (and game) are eaten and enjoyed....Eat spam, if you wish....

weebray - 8-20-2014 at 05:05 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by chuckie
When I leave Colorado , for Baja each year, I have a good size freezer of Elk and Antelope, with a bunch of Pheasants thrown in for ballast....Using weebrays logic this is almost all wasted....Danged if its not all gone when I leave, with a lot of smiley friends in the wake.....


I'm sure there's a valid point here. I guess if you're not from Canada you don't get it. I'm not, I don't.

chuckie - 8-20-2014 at 05:26 PM

I don't doubt it...........

weebray - 8-20-2014 at 05:51 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by chuckie
So? rent yourself out as a thermometer......Regardless of all this theoretical BS, I suspect most of these fish (and game) are eaten and enjoyed....Eat spam, if you wish....


Theoretical? You Suspect?? Now there's a real scientific answer. Go tell it to the theoretical one thousand tons of dead Bluefin rotting in your local dumpster. This isn't some theoretical game of scholarly elitists. Go back to your satellite TV. If you don't have anything to say don't say it here.

chuckie - 8-20-2014 at 06:15 PM

Well, I actually don't have TV at all, havnt for 6 or 7years now....I have not noticed thousand of tons of tuna rotting in my dumpster here in Colorado (don't have one)....Please produce a picture of 1000 TONS of dead Bluefin rotting ANYWHERE...PLEASE!...If you cant produce facts...go elsewhere....

MMc - 8-20-2014 at 06:24 PM

Who caught those blue fin? I wasn't some guy off a sport boat. Weebray you seem to have a agenda that all sport fisherman are bad or if I take 8, 10 fish per year I am exceeding YOUR limit.
The issue here is, the over fishing of bait fish,commercial harvesting of stocks of fish, gill nets and trawlers. Did I leave any out?
Sportsmen fought to stop gill nets in Calif. Sportsmen fought for slot limit's. Who started the Catch and Release of Billfish, Rosters. I can go on, it was not Greenpeace, or pita. The folks that are trying to control the fishery's are sportsmen You can't see that.

For the last 10 years I get a 50% but they do give the bellies and cheeks.

Weebray you have a cause I understand that. I am done here. Please refer to the bottom of my page.

[Edited on 8-21-2014 by MMc]

willardguy - 8-20-2014 at 06:28 PM

I just got here, tons of rotting televisions! OMG!


monoloco - 8-20-2014 at 07:21 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by weebray
Quote:
Originally posted by MMc
I often wind up with 400# to 900# of processed tuna we go though it in a year, some is Christmas gifts.


Congratulations, You just became my poster boy for exactly what I am talking about - out of control overfishermen. I printed your post to show to my friends when making a point about the senseless slaughter of a precious resource. You prove my point. Let's look at some facts here. Frozen fish is good for about 3-4 mo. before it starts to degrade. Especially tuna or salmon which are very fatty fish. Cod, catfish, triggerfish, etc. can be successfully kept for up to 6mo. This assumes it is frozen almost immediately after being caught. Four hundred pounds of fish equals 800 or more servings. We love fish and eat it 2 or 3 times a week but if I served my family 800 fish dinners in 3 or 4 months there would be munity here. The only way to change this statistic is to serve fish that is over 4 months old. I owned a retail fish market for ten years and I know that frozen fish over 4 months old is only fair to poor to eat. You can tell me all day how you vacuum pack and freeze it under the most rigorous of conditions (which by the way, you don't), it's still bait after 4 months. You're not going to cop to it but I know you're throwing a bunch of fish away. Case dismissed.
You just proved you don't know what you are talking about. A piece of king salmon that was properly handled, vacuum packed, and immediately frozen will still be perfectly edible after 6 months, striped marlin and wahoo keep the longest, they will still be good after a year. I have been catching and preserving fish for 30 over years and I can't remember ever throwing out a piece of fish. I can tell you that 100 lbs. of king salmon is nothing, after a few smoker loads and dinner parties, I'll be ready to load up on wahoo, marlin and dorado, ask my neighbors who I also keep supplied with fish, if they think I keep an unreasonable amount. I observe all the sport fishing limits, but apparently, you believe that's still excessive. You can sit on the dock and eat tofu, but I'm going to continue to catch and eat fish.

monoloco - 9-4-2014 at 08:37 AM

Update: Some bonehead fisherman from Colorado somehow mistakenly grabbed my 2 fish boxes and flew home with them. I'm currently trying to figure out a way to get them back from the fishnapper. When I flew into Los Cabos yesterday I stopped and asked the jefa de aduana exactly what the reglas were for bringing in fish, she told me that as long as it was not carnada, it's ok to bring. I also asked if there were any limits on the amount that one could bring and she said no.

TMW - 9-4-2014 at 09:21 AM

So he got all your fish? That's bad.

monoloco - 9-4-2014 at 09:30 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by TW
So he got all your fish? That's bad.
Yep. I'm still trying to figure out how someone can make a "mistake" and end up with 4 boxes of fish instead of two, with 2 of them having someone else's name on them, especially when he had to retrieve them from the freezer and haul them to the Alaska terminal in Sitka and check them as baggage.:?: