According to the MarViva Foundation, most of the tuna caught in the seas of the country are taken by the foreign fishing fleet.
In Costa Rica’s Exclusive Economic Zone, an average of 25,000 metric tons of tuna are caught through purse seines.
Of these, only 7,500 tonnes are landed for canning industry of tuna in domestic ports, the rest is taken to other countries by purse seiners, according to data from the organization.
Costa Rica is giving away its fishing wealth, instead of fomenting a national fleet that catches tuna responsibly and markets it as a high quality product in international markets, we allow others to take our resources,”
said Jorge Jiménez, director of MarViva .
Costa Rica has an Exclusive Economic Zone ten times bigger than its land portion. This, coupled with a privileged geographic position where marine currents converge makes important populations of tuna, one of the main fisheries resources of the eastern tropical Pacific, to concentrate here.
However, the State has not been able to take advantage of this wealth and has given priority to the fishing fleets of other countries to extract these resources, leaving the national fleet with less tuna.
In the search for economic alternatives for the coastal population, the MarViva Foundation presented the book Las Tunas Fisheries in Costa Rica: an opportunity for development.