More than a year after leaving Mexico on a thirty-hour fishing trip, José Salvador Alvarenga reached the Marshall Islands. The rest is documented.
## The World He Left Behind in Costa Azul
The fishing village of Costa Azul sits on a stretch of Chiapas coast that most visitors to Mexico never see. It is not a tourist destination; it is a working community, organized around the rhythms of the ocean and the economics of what the ocean yields. The shark hunters who operated from this coast were part of a trade that extended deep into the history of Pacific Mexico — men who went far offshore in small boats and returned with what they could carry, selling their catch to processors and distributors in a chain that ultimately put dried shark fin in restaurant kitchens across Asia and fresh fish on tables across Mexico.
Alvarenga had been in Costa Azul for several years by the time of his departure in November 2012. Long enough to establish himself, to earn a reputation as a reliable captain, to know the other fishermen and the routines of the trade. He worked for Willy, the operator of the Blue Coast fishing outfit, on a system common to small commercial fishing operations: the boat and equipment belonged to Willy, and Alvarenga provided the skill. Payment was tied to the catch. A good trip meant a meaningful payday; a poor trip meant less. The economics were straightforward, if precarious.
The Los Tiburoneros — the shark hunters — were not operating casually. Going after pelagic sharks required going into deep water, far from the coast, where the large open-water species lived. This meant regular trips well beyond the sight of land, often overnight, in boats that were efficient for their purpose but offered no protection against serious weather. The risk was not theoretical. Everyone in Costa Azul knew that the ocean could take people. It had taken people before. The accepted understanding in a community like this was that the sea offered a livelihood and demanded a corresponding acceptance of its terms.