Bringing back your fish from Mexico when your driving back.

[mikeysm]

How do you bring back your fish from Mexico after fishing trip.

Mike

[MarkT]

In a cooler!  I've always had them processed in bags, not whole fish.

You have some kind of concern?

[Gobi King]

Any limit?

Canuks - Hardyboy's buddies are pretty stingy in letting protein across the us/can border. 

[Hardy Boy]

Fish is never a problem bringing into Canada. Just don't have meat , vegetables of fruit. I have brought home fresh and frozen fish ........................ makes no difference. Oh yeah don't forget you max limit of PBR !!!


Cheers:

Todd

[philaroman]

see if you can find blocks of ice
lasts MUCH longer; saves space & $$$

[Brewcrafter]

Al long as you have both California and Mexican license...

[mikeysm]

I have a huge ice chest in my van to bring anything back. I just needed to know just what I had to do before I plan a trip.

Mike

[Gfish]

Yeah, if they see an ice chest, they'll probably check. Two real caucasian looking guys(me & friend) got questioned in detail about where we lived, then had to produce all the worm tequila bottles we had to make sure we were under the limit. That was by our guys. Don't get me started about returning from Canada. They tore our whole truck apart and used the dog. In both cases the Mexican and Canadian guys couldn't have been nicer when we entered their countries.

[jurelometer]

In addition to what the other folks have said:

1.  Don't carry any shellfish that foreigners to Mexico are not allowed to harvest unless you have purchased from a licensed retailer and have a receipt for the exact amount.  Some examples are lobsters, clams, and abalone.  This is doubly important if you are driving, because there is a good chance that you will encounter a checkpoint in Mexico, and they will ask.  Usually easier not to carry any, even with a receipt. 

2.  You are supposed to declare to US Customs that you are bringing in food, but it should all go smoothly once you describe this as fish that you caught.  They are very used to this.    If you are using a trusted traveler program like Global Entry, you can lose your privileges by not declaring items that are supposed to be declared.

3.  Don't bring back any US listed endangered species (Gulf Grouper, Totoaba), or species not allowed to be possessed in your state (Broomtail Grouper for California).    Don't rely on these examples. You will need to do your own research for a complete  and accurate up-to-date list.

Most  folks just bag up their catch and travel home to the USA without any research or planning, and nothing bad usually happens except for item (1).  There seems to be plenty of stories about lobster and clam confiscation.  And keep your Mex license after you return home.  I did not think that you were required to have a California license if you were not  in California/US waters  and still have your Mex license or other proof that the seafood was acquired in Mexico.

A wrap of duct tape around the cooler lid opening and a blanket on top will make a big difference in keeping the fish cold, especially when driving in the hot desert.

-J

[Brewcrafter]

Everything that Jurelometer said x2.  If you really want to lose sleep, look up the Lacey Act of 1900.  What does a timber act from over 100 years ago have to do with catching fish?  Everything.  The minute you cross the border (even a state border!) you are subject to Federal regs.  Soooooo, if you harvested that Mountain Lion, Wolf, Great White Shark, Grizzly Bear, Unicorn, White Whale wherever it was legal, and you brought it back here to my neck of the woods (while wearing a Sea Otter fur coat with Mink trim) you could be looking at major time at Danbury and loss of all your worldly goods.
Everybody on this site is pretty serious about being conservators of our (meaning the World) resources; so while I believe anyone here would most likely not knowingly do something not in the best interests of conservation, these are laws that are easy to unknowingly break.
And while I am not ready to start my NASCAR career by bootlegging PBR to Hardy Todd    I will say that back in a "different time" while coming back from south of the border we were motioned aside and had the car searched (this was on the US side).  A bunch of Caucasian-Under-21-High-School-Troublemakers.  We had 2 cases of Corona Especial (back when it was not common up here) that were found.  After thoroughly tearing the car apart (and of course they made us put everything back) were were all lined up, scared out of our wits, and it was sternly made clear to us how serious an offense this was and that they were going to let us off easy and we were absolutely required to destroy the 2 cases of beer "Once we got home" because "we know where you live".    To this day I believe they already had enough good stuff for their own "happy hour" and rather than confiscation they were just having their own fun. - john