FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Randall Arauz, President PRETOMA
TEL:  +(506) 241-5227 FAX:  +(506) 236-6017
, www.tortugamarina.org

Conservation International calls o­n President of Costa Rica to control landings of foreign shark finning vessels

October 22, 2004 - San Jose, Costa RicaA letter from Conservation International's CEO, Peter Seligmann and Executive Director of Marine Programs Division, Sylvia Earle, calls o­n the President of Costa Rica to stop allowing foreign shark finning vessels to land at private docks until those docks are authorized by law, and to mandate all sharks to be landed with fins attached. 

(link to letter: www.tortugamarina.org/downloads/pdf/CI.pdf)

With this move, Conservation International joins a list of global organizations, including the Shark Specialist Group of the IUCN, WildAid, the Shark Trust, The Shark Research Institute, International Fund for Animal Welfare, and the World Society for the Protection of Animals, that have made the same call to President Pacheco.

Costa Rica is a country that has held a reputation for supporting nature conservation; however, there has been serious controversy surrounding Costa Rica's management of sharks, due to the fact that its government has for years facilitated landing shark fins by international flag vessels, in particular Taiwanese, by knowingly allowing those vessels to land at docks that are not authorized by law.  Furthermore, Costa Rica's main shark finning regulation ignores the best available science, and thus is considered unreliable.

All the while, Costa Rica has claimed that it does not permit shark finning.  This discrepancy between what the government claims and the policies it implements has conservation groups around the world questioning the Costa Rican government's true commitment to conservation.

The letter from Conservation International urges unauthorized docks to be closed until they are in compliance with the law, and calls o­n the President to mandate all sharks to be landed with fins attached, as Costa Rica's current policy "seriously threatens the survival of shark species."

"What Conservation International is pointing out is that the Costa Rican government is not living up to its conservationist image," says Randall Arauz.  "For some reason, entities within the government want these shark fin landings by foreign fleets, notoriously Taiwanese vessels, to continue unchecked.  That policy cannot continue if Costa Rica wants to support marine conservation.  The government needs to decide whether it supports shark finning or supports marine conservation, but it can't do both at the same time."

Shark finning not o­nly wipes out sharks, but the millions of hooks used to capture sharks for their fins incidentally catch other species such as dolphins, rays and the critically endangered leatherback sea turtle, making this operation o­ne of the most harmful to the world's oceans.

PRETOMA is a Costa Rican non-profit, non-governmental, marine conservation organization that works to promote responsible fisheries and protect sea turtles, sharks and marine biodiversity.  Contact .