The Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE ) made a call to the Costa Rican Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Incopesca) after it became known that they will issue new licenses to allow trawling. This would violate a ruling of the Constitutional Chamber of 2013.
On Thursday, the institution led by Edgar Gutiérrez asked Incopesca to respect the legal order and comply with the provisions of the Constitutional Chamber. In an agreement of the Board of Directors, last week, Incopesca decided to grant new licenses for semi-industrial shrimp trawling.
This Ministry is aware of the need for attention from families and people associated with the fishing activities, however, we make a strong call to reflect that said attention cannot rely on the negative impact on the marine resources,”
reported the ministry.
The entity added that since 2013, the magistrates declared the semi-industrial fishing of shrimp trawling as unconstitutional.
In July 2016, the Contentious Administrative Court annulled a provision authorizing semi-industrial trawling in the Responsible Fishing Marine Area of San Juanillo, Guanacaste. The Court condemned Incopesca for allowing it in a Board of Directors agreement.
The Institute allowed it, despite the fact that there was a technical and scientific criterion of an inter-institutional group that indicated that the technique should not be allowed.
Studies determined that most of the trawl catch is not shrimp, but other species (between 70% and 97%). It is estimated that between 1950 and 2014, in Costa Rica, 500 thousand metric tons of these other animals have been returned to the sea, of which 90% are small fish caught by artisanal fisheries.