The recent Executive decree signed by President Laura Chinchilla approving new restrictions on commercial longline fishing operations is a positive, yet not altogether effective, step towards stopping the overfishing and depletion of marine resources of Costa Rica. Such was the statement pronounced by the Costa Rica Fishing Federation (Spanish acronym: FECOP) in mid-February.
The decree in question calls for the prohibition of certain advanced baiting systems used by large commercial fishing fleets to not only attract tuna but also create an ecosystem that entices them to remain there. This is an unsustainable practice insofar as it attracts tuna of all sizes as well as other fish, sea turtles and even marine mammals such as dolphins that end up getting caught in the longlines and nets.
FECOP, however, is not 100 percent critical of the steps taken by the administration of President Chinchilla with regard to the contentious longline tuna fishing practices, which are largely dominated by Chinese fleets operating in international waters. FECOP presented a series of observations and recommendations to the government in 2013, and the prohibition of these fish aggregating devices was one of points made.
What FECOP and other organizations such as the National Federation of the Fisheries Sector (Spanish acronym: FENAPES) would like to see is a licensing and oversight system that controls the offshore fleets. Data compiled by FECOP hints at the presence of around 50 illegal tuna fishing boats that operated off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica from 2008 to 2011, and which may have caught more than 1,000 metric tons of unwanted marine species baited by these fish aggregating devices. Most species that are not tuna do not survive the longline or netting episodes; their carcasses are thrown back into the ocean.
According to Hugo Solano of national newspaper La Nacion, FENAPES representatives want to see greater oversight for the purpose of eliminating the unfair advantage foreign fleets have over the community fishing industry in Costa Rica, which is comprised of about 15,000 families.
The Costa Rica Star, 2011-2014