Costa Rica again allows shark finning

The Costa Rican government earlier imposed a de facto ban on shark finning, but it recently lifted the ban, according to PRETOMA:

(December 13, 2007 – SanJosé, Costa Rica)

Last Monday, December 10, INCOPESCA, Customs and the Ministry of Public Transportation MOPT, authorized, yet again, the use of private docks for the landing of fishery products by international flag vessels, in clear violationof the orders of the Constitutional Court, in the sense that the authorities must immediately halt their use in absence of pubic infrastructure. The first private dock to illegally receive landings by international flag vesselswas Fortuna del Pacífico.

“We aren’t really surprised by the behavior of our fishery authorities, as they have repeatedly shown a greater interest to protect the interests of the owners of the private docks rather than protect the public interest, which is their constitutional duty”, complained Randall Arauz, President of PRETOMA. “The Constitutional Court will have the last word, as it has long becomeevident that the Executive branch of our government is incapable of orderingthe fishery authorities to abide by the law at the private docks,” expressed Arauz.

“What concerns us most is to see what our authorities are capable of doing with the sole intent of favoring the illegal activities of these foreign flagged vessels at private docks, even openly lying to cover them up”, pointed out Jorge Ballestero, of PRETOMA. According to Ballestero, the Belize flagged vessel Dragon 28 had been waiting in Puntarenas for permission to land its products at the private docks for three weeks. “We requested an explanationfrom MOPT, because if the vessel couldn’t land, it had no business in Puntarenas, but their response and the Manifiesto de Carga was that the Dragon 28 wasn’t carrying fishery products, only basalt, and thus,it wasn’t going to land anything in Costa Rica.

According to the cited documents, the vessel was only granted permission to stay in Puntarenas due to mechanical problems and to supply provisions for the crew. However, at9:45 of December 10 of 2007 the Dragon 28 was caught on video landing tons of shark products. “At this moment we are requesting to know the identity of the public functionaries who allowed these illegal landings, and establish legal responsibilities for supplying false information to the civil society”, informed Ballestero.

The potential for illegal activities at private docks is enormous”,pointed out Miguel Gómez, Director of Campaigns of PRETOMA. “Just last January the Cambodian flagged vessel Dragon III visited Puntarenas, but this vessel is blacklisted by the Inter American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) practicing illegal, un regulated and un reported fishing”, pointed outGómez. According to the vessel’s manifest, the Dragon III didn’t carry any fishery products either, only basalt. “Were they lying again?” “Were shark fins landed in the middle of the night, when no officers are present?”, Gómez asked himself. “The truth is that in the privacy of the docks, there is simply no way to know”, sentenced Gómez.

For more information:

PRETOMA
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