Incessant poaching by Mexican fishermen off Texas is directly tied to the Gulf Cartel and its other criminal trafficking in narcotics and human smuggling, U.S. Treasury Department officials said in announcing sanctions against five cartel operatives.

The Treasury Department announced on Tuesday it has sanctioned members of the notorious Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion in Mexico for its role in trafficking fentanyl and other illegal drugs into the United States.

The cartel allegedly uses fishing boats to smuggle drugs and migrants — and catch tons of red snapper, a commercially valuable but vulnerable species.

The Treasury Department issued sanctions against a Mexican drug cartel for their role in illegal red snapper fishing in the Gulf of Mexico.

The United States on Tuesday sanctioned members of a Mexican drug cartel over the illegal fishing of red snapper and shark species in U.S. waters.