Mexico Passed Its Dolphin Show Ban Without One No Vote. The Rulebook Is Still Missing

In June 2025, both chambers of Mexico’s Congress voted, without a single no, to ban dolphins, sea lions, orcas and other marine mammals from entertainment shows, whether at a fixed park or in a traveling act.¹³

The change affects an estimated 350 captive dolphins at about 30 dolphinariums, most of them in the state of Quintana Roo.² Beyond ending the shows, the law bans most captive breeding and requires whales and dolphins to leave concrete tanks for sea pens.⁴

More than a year after the law took effect, though, the government rulebook needed to carry out those moves still had not been published, according to a Yahoo Noticias report from late August 2026.⁵

Two unanimous votes in June 2025

The Senate approved the ban 99-0 on Monday, June 23, 2025, Mexico News Daily reported. That vote capped a three-year legislative effort sparked by public outrage over animal welfare violations, and President Claudia Sheinbaum personally prioritized the bill during a special session of Congress.²

On June 26, the Chamber of Deputies passed it 415-0.³⁷

“We are against any violence, but animal abuse in particular is a reflection of what could later escalate in terms of violence,” Sheinbaum said, as quoted by Mexico News Daily.²

A law named for one dolphin

The measure is nicknamed the “Mincho Law,” after a dolphin that was severely injured during a performance at the Barceló Maya Grand Resort in Quintana Roo.²

In May 2025, Profepa permanently closed Dolphinaris Barceló and fined the company more than 7.5 million pesos (about $395,000), according to Riviera Maya News as cited by Mexico News Daily.²

Dr. Claudia Edwards, programs director at Humane World for Animals Mexico, called the Chamber vote “a decisive move toward ending the exploitation of whales, dolphins and other marine mammals for entertainment,” in the group’s announcement.¹

What the law actually requires

The decree amending Mexico’s General Wildlife Law was published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación, the government’s official record, on July 16, 2025.⁶⁸ Law-firm commentary says it took effect the next day.⁴

• No shows: marine mammals can’t be used in fixed or traveling entertainment.³
• No new captives: wild capture, captive breeding and keeping marine mammals are banned except for scientific research aimed at conservation, such as reintroducing animals to the wild.¹
• Out of concrete: cetaceans (whales and dolphins) must move to sea pens or other open facilities with natural seawater exchange. The same commentary notes exceptions where relocation is geographically impossible.⁴

The slow part

The decree gave the federal government 180 days after it took effect to update the wildlife law’s implementing regulations, the detailed rules that explain how the law is carried out, according to the Chamber of Deputies summary.⁶ Humane World’s release had put that timeline at one year.¹

By late August 2026, Yahoo Noticias reported, the regulation was still unpublished, and moving marine mammals to sea pens was going slowly, with a legal deadline running toward April 2027.⁵

The shows are banned. For the relocations, the date to watch is that April 2027 deadline.