Progreso ·
Octopus season in Progreso: how it is going at halfway
Octopus season in Yucatán runs from 1 August to 15 December. At the halfway mark, catches in Progreso and other ports along the coast are running 20 to 30 per cent below last year, according to reports published this week. Fishermen are hoping the first nortes will stir up the sea floor and bring a better finish.
What is happening at the dock
This week the local papers took stock of the season, and the story is the same in several ports along the coast: less octopus is coming in than in 2025. The drop runs from 20 to 30 per cent depending on the port, and Progreso is among those feeling it. The figures come from the state fisheries department, from Conapesca and from the fishermen's federations.
For anyone who lives in the port, this is not a distant statistic. Octopus is the most important catch of the season on the Yucatán coast, and during these months it sets the rhythm of the mornings at the fishing dock, in the fish shops and in the kitchens along the malecón.
A slow season does not mean there is no octopus on the table. It means each boat comes back with less per trip, and fishermen adjust their hours and their spots while they wait for better water.
The Maya octopus, and how it is caught
Much of the octopus caught here is the Maya octopus, a species that lives only in the shallow waters off the Yucatán peninsula. The other species that comes in during the season is the common octopus, which is caught further offshore.
The traditional method is called gareteo. While fishing, the boat runs with its engine off and drifts with the wind and the current, with two long bamboo poles, the jimbas, spread out to the sides like arms. Lines hang from each pole, baited with crab. The octopus wraps itself around the bait and the fisherman pulls it up by hand, with no hook.
It is slow, quiet fishing. Watching it from the beach at dawn is one of the most characteristic sights in the port: a scatter of small boats with their poles spread wide, sitting still on a very flat sea.
Why there is a closed season, and why it matters
The season closes on 15 December and does not open again until 1 August. Those closed months exist so the octopus can breed. The Maya octopus has no larval stage that drifts far away: the young hatch fully formed close to where the eggs were laid. What is looked after on the Yucatán coast stays on the Yucatán coast.
That is why the minimum size and the closed season are enforced, and why a weak season worries the whole port. It is a signal of the state of the sea right in front of us.
What comes next: the nortes
Fishermen are counting on the nortes, the cold fronts that start reaching the coast in autumn, to stir up the sea floor and improve catches from October to December. It is a hope built on experience of past seasons, not a promise.
The nortes change life on land too. They bring wind from the north, choppy water and cooler days, and with them comes the best time of year to walk the malecón without the heat of August.
How to enjoy it if you are in Progreso
If you want to watch the fishing, head to the beach or the fishing dock early, when the boats go out or come back. Ask before taking close-up photos: this is their work.
In the port's restaurants, octopus turns up in many forms during the season: in a cocktail, in ceviche, or the local way, cooked in its own ink. Eating it between August and mid December means eating it in season, fresh and local.
