Their lines could be as long as 20 kilometers floating on the surface or just below, are often made from primitive materials like a floating twine, are left in the water extended periods of time, and often become lost line death traps. Bait is captured at night, and crew often sleep in the morning before heading back offshore - leaving their lines offshore unattended even longer and doing more damage to the marine environment. There can be as many as 10 or 15 boats at a time inside the restricted area. Fishing live bait by longliners inside Golfo Dulce is a huge problem. In 2010, the Golfo Dulce became the largest Marine Area of Responsible Fishing (MARP), and no fishing is allowed by medium and advanced commercial fleets (longline boats). Regulations being violated FECOP – Longline boats are easily spotted on radar inside the Golfo DulceĪgreement AJDIP/115-2016 from Incopesca speaks specifically to sailfish, and the FECOP team showed where many of the regulations in the agreement were being violated. Anthony Rhoden, a sport fishing captain clearly laid out the case for the panel. Marina Marrari, Moises Mug both marine scientists and Capt. They created a loop hole in the law that allows for commercial boats to land up to 15% of their catch as sailfish for national consumption.īecause of historically lax enforcement of fishing laws, that loophole has opened the door for a chain of events that not only puts sailfish populations in danger but has severe collateral damage to other sea life, especially sea turtles.įECOP, the Costa Rican Fishing Federation that promotes ocean management and fishing tourism as a sustainable option for employment, presented the case of the Southern Zone on Tuesday in front of the Illegal Unreported and Unregulated fishing Presidential Commission. In fact, Costa Rican law has declared sailfish a species of tourist interest and made it illegal for commercial fishing boats to directly target sailfish. That fish is sailfish, which has a low value as a food fish and a very high value as a catch and release game fish in tourism, supplying many direct and indirect jobs to local families. It has become a common daily occurrence - and becomes extremely worse each year around Easter time - when commercial longliners are looking for a low-cost fish to market to Costa Ricans.

Today, both are being threatened by illegal commercial fishing practices. Over the years, eco-tourism and sport-fishing tourism has flourished in the area. It also made it attractive to tourists, because it is relatively untouched and has a great diversity of flora and fauna. Until recently, it was difficult to access, which made it attractive to people hiding out, gold miners, and other illegal activities. The Osa Peninsula has always been considered the “wild west” of Costa Rica.

Sailfish jumping line art