Costa Rican Senators make Urgent Recommendations to Resolve Shark Finning Crisis
Written by Admin
Thursday, 11 November 2004
• • • PRESS RELEASE • • •
Costa Rican Senators make Urgent Recommendations to Resolve Shark Finning Crisis
November 12, 2004 - San Jose, Costa Rica Yesterday 35 Costa Rican
senators from various parties signed a letter to President Abel Pacheco
recommending an executive decree which would clearly prohibit shark
finning, as well as control foreign, notably Taiwanese, vessels that
land shark fins in Costa Rica.
The
recommendations are designed to resolve two national policies that have
been questioned and highly criticized both nationally and
internationally:
1) The permitting of foreign vessels to land at
private docks that have not obtained the required official
authorization from Customs. Due to their private nature, not even
Coast Guard officials have free access to inspect landings at these
docks. This lack of control has resulted in secret landings of up to
30 tons of shark fins. Landings at these docks occur 15-30 times per
month. 2) The shark finning regulation of the National Fishery
Institute (INCOPESCA) which has been criticized for permitting shark
finning, and containing loopholes such as relying on statements from
vessel captains instead of inspecting vessels and not addressing
landings at unauthorized docks.
These policies have also come
under criticism for their clear privileges for Taiwanese shark finning
interests. Recent revelations of corruption between the Taiwanese
government and high ranking Costa Rican officials, have given rise to
strong suspicion of links between corruption and the privileges for
Taiwanese shark finning interests.
The decree recommended by
the senators would require foreign vessels to only land at authorized
docks, would nullify the current INCOPESCA shark finning regulation and
ban the landing of shark fins.
A core group of senators, Rodrigo
Alberto Carazo, Epsy Campbell, Quírico Jiménez and José Miguel Corrales
have been investigating the shark finning issue with PRETOMA.
"The
questionable longstanding inaction on the part of INCOPESCA and
Customs has brought this issue to the Congress," says Randall Arauz,
President of PRETOMA. "Costa Rica's shark finning policies are highly
criticized by the world shark expert and conservation communities;
because you can't claim to support conservation when at the same time
your policies promote shark finning. This decree will protect our
natural resources, protect our national fishermen from uncontrolled
foreign fleets, bring our policies in line with science and our laws
and help salvage Costa Rica's image as a country that supports
responsible conservation."
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Randall Arauz, President PRETOMA TEL: +(506) 241-5227 FAX: +(506) 236-6017 , www.tortugamarina.org
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
.
