Asociación Costa Rica por Siempre and Fundación Pacífico
The government of Luis Guillermo Solís was highly questioned for its fisheries policies. One of the most criticized points was his lack of conviction to protect sharks, highly exploited animals by a part of the national fishing sector. The former president was even elected Enemy of the Sharks by an international organization.
The debate continues due to the impact that fishing has on these species, which are key in marine ecosystems thanks to their role as predators, carrying out a task of controlling the populations of other species so that the seas are balanced.
Given the importance of sharks and the complicated landscape and political pressures, MarViva Foundation launched the Save the Sharks petition on the Change.org platform. Here you can see the petition here.
The environmental organization reiterated the need for a change in the face of “unsustainable fishing practices and the lack of scientific and reliable data on the state of their populations.” These conditions endanger sharks.
In the past administration, environmental groups fought to avoid the export of hammerhead sharks, an endangered species, in Costa Rica. But then president Solís and the Costa Rican Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture (INCOPESCA) sought to allow it, although there was no science to support this, according to opponents.
On March 1st, 2015, the country banned the export of hammerhead shark fins, without studies, through his membership of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This is an international agreement to regulate the trade of plants and animals, so that their survival is not threatened.
Until last year, the scientific authority was the Council of Representatives of Scientific Authorities (CRAC-Cites), where scientists from different centers investigated and made recommendations. The administrative authority, before the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC) executed said recommendations.
But in May 2017, the government of Luis Guillermo Solis changed and gave the scientific authority to INCOPESCA and the administrative authority to the National Animal Health Service (SENASA).
MarViva urged the authorities to establish, together with the fishermen, adequate management measures to ensure the survival of the most vulnerable species of sharks. That is why it requested that at least these management measures be established:
-Temporary closures in specific zones to protect breeding areas of vulnerable species.
-Ban on the use of metallic pieces in fishing lines.
-Minimum catch sizes based on proven scientific criteria.
-Resuming international leadership of the country in the protection, management, and conservation of sharks.
-Canceling the decree of the Ministries of Environment and Agriculture and Livestock to return the administrative and scientific authority of Cites to MINAE and the CRAC-Cites
-Differentiated tariff codes for the control of the species included in the CITES Convention and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS)
Of the 45 species that swim in Costa Rica, nine (three species of hammerhead shark, three species of thresher shark, the silky shark, oceanic whitetip shark, and the whale shark) are included in the Appendices to the CITES Convention, an intergovernmental treaty that limits the export of threatened species,”
emphasized MarViva.