HomeNewsCosta Rica Sabotaging Own Efforts to Protect Vulnerable Sharks
NEWS

Costa Rica Sabotaging Own Efforts to Protect Vulnerable Sharks

COSTA RICA / 29 NOV 2021 BY ALEJANDRA RODRIGUEZ EN

A new report has suggested that progress made in Costa Rica to protect its abundant shark and turtle populations has been reversed due to existing laws not being implemented.  

In November, the Rescue Center for Threatened Maritime Species (Centro de Rescate de Especies Marinas Amenazadas – CREMA) published a report condemning a lack of action by the Costa Rica government that had left critically endangered turtles and sharks, especially the hammerhead shark, unprotected.

Two aspects of Costa Rica's stance on protecting marine wildlife came in for particular criticism. Firstly, in 2018, the government presented two long-term action plans to protect sharks and other at-risk pelagic fish, such as tuna and swordfish. These were seen as ambitious, proposing to support and enhance sustainable fishing practices and working with longline fishing vessels to help reduce the number of sharks accidentally killed.

However, three years on, these plans have not been implemented, according to CREMA.

SEE ALSO: Million-Dollar Seizure of Shark Fins Leads to Lenient Fine in Ecuador

Secondly, a decree by the previous government to allow the sale of vulnerable species, including the hammerhead shark, silky shark and thresher shark, remains controversial. In 2017, a presidential decree by then-President Luis Guillermo Solís allowed the commercialization of these species.

In November 2020, Costa Rica's Supreme Court struck down the decree, and the current president, Carlos Alvarado, has vowed to protect sharks. While the sharks are not listed as sellable products, numerous sharks are still caught as "accompanying fauna" during longline fishing. Fins from these are often sold, despite the law. The MarViva foundation warned in a 2019 report that, between 2012 and 2017, at least 455 tons of shark fines, worth $24.9 million, were exported from Costa Rica to Asian markets, mostly Hong Kong.

The CREMA report says the sale of shark products is still active. The country remains the sixth-largest exporter of shark fins, according to the report.

"Without a doubt, Costa Rica's commitment to achieving sustainable fishing has been severely compromised by its failure to protect endangered shark species," said Jeffry Madrigal, a biologist with CREMA, in the report.

InSight Crime Analysis

Costa Rica's lack of enforcement of its own legislation has led to inconsistent actions taken to stop the illegal fishing of sharks and other species.

The 2017 decree by Solís sparked a scandal as it came on the heels of a decision by the same government to allow the sale of hammerhead shark fins to China.

Solís was named "Enemy of Sharks 2016" by the SharkProject organization.

According to CREMA, this decree ran against Articles 14 and 75 of Costa Rica's Law on the Conservation of Wildlife (Ley de Conservación de la Vida Silvestre) de Costa Rica.

SEE ALSO: Butterflies, Beetles and Spiders: Costa Rica's Smaller Eco-trafficking Targets

While this decree has been struck down and the commercialization of threatened species is prohibited, Costa Rica has passed no specific law banning the sale of shark fins, according to CREMA. This has reportedly caused a legal black hole that fishermen have exploited.

From 2015 to 2020, at least 14 tons of hammerhead shark fins were brought ashore in Costa Rica's port of Puntarenas and later sold, much of it going to China.

According to Randall Arauz, an environmentalist and director of international policy for Fins Attached, an international maritime protection organization, Costa Rica continues to try and sidestep its own laws.

"Our objective is not to create a new law, but to ensure the current law on sealife in Costa Rica is far better enforced. The decrees we have implemented violate Article 140 of Costa Rica's Fishing Law, which clearly prohibits the commercialization and export of endangered species," he told InSight Crime.

In the absence of government action, in June 2021, several fishermen's associations volunteered to protect the species by better fishing practices.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

BRAZIL / 28 DEC 2021

There was record destruction of the Amazon in 2020, as the rainforest lost an area around the size of Belize,…

COCAINE / 13 APR 2021

The dismantling of a Costa Rican drug gang that worked with agents in an elite investigative unit to steal cocaine…

ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME / 2 JUN 2022

Peru – rich in biodiversity – is a hotspot for the wildlife trade. Reptiles, fish and birds are all trafficked…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…