The governmentâs position is that the shark is a very important fishery for the country
The Government of Costa Rica vaguely tries to maintain the illusion that it truly cares about its waters.
The situation with shark finning in the country has gotten worse even though the amount of sharks that have been landed and exported has been reduced in the last 5 years, from about 900 metric tons of 350 metric tons per year.
According to Marviva association, it is still a very worrisome problem for a few reasons. First, there is not good control on what has been landed and where it comes from. Second, the government recently made an agreement with the fisheries sector to not support the incorporation of new species of shark on protected lists if the shark species has commercial interest. This was also supplemented by a commitment of the government to petition carriers, like American Airlines and UPS, to reverse their ban on the transportation of shark fins in their cargo. Who knows if it will work. But that was the commitment they made to the fisheries.
Cocos Island is the subject of illegal fishing every day
The governmentâs position is that the shark is a very important fishery for the country. In volume, it is only second to mahi mahi. So, there is a social concern to maintain the shark industry.
Cocos Island is the subject of illegal fishing every day. And in other protected areas there is no control at all. We have very little enforcement capacity in the country. The coastal guard is stretched very thin. They have limited conditions and few personnel or boats to do their job. Itâs very likely that a significant portion of those shark landings are coming from Marine Protected Areas.
