"Who is the real killer?"

Gerardo Zamora
Journalist
Channel 7 News (Costa Rica)
Program - "7 Dias"
May 3, 2004 8pm

In Costa Rica, each year we kill almost half a million sharks, in order to satisfy the unrelenting gastronomic tastes in Asia. And looking into the commercialization of shark fins in Costa Rica o­ne discovers a weak system of controls employed by our port authorities. These weak controls are threatening the ocean ecosystem.

Perhaps no other animal makes us tremble like the shark, but beneath a shark's impressive appearance is an animal that plays a vital role in maintaining balance in the ocean food chain.

Michael Rothschild, Executive Director - MarViva (Costa Rican Marine Conservation Organization)
"Sharks play an important role in maintaining the balance in a very delicate system and what has been verified and what we have seen is a global massacre of sharks of all species. Shark populations have declined and as a result the rest of the ecosystem has deteriorated including smaller fish that also have commercial value."

Each year, over 100 million sharks are killed by commercial fishing operations around the world. And o­n average sharks must wait 12-30 years for sexual maturity and produce between 3 - 12 offspring.

However, shark fins continue to be the most sought after fishery product in Asia.

Carlos Manuel Rodríguez - Minister of Costa Rican Ministry of the Environment and Energy (MINAE)
"The discussion really needs to be about the impact commercial fishing has o­n populations of sharks. What is happening, indicators show, is that the populations of sharks have diminished 80 to 90 percent, and that in itself is reason enough to create conservation policies and immediately set them in motion."

So you have to ask yourself what's really going o­n here? Who is the killer? Who's killing who?

Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, Minister - MINAE
"Shark fishing and the finning of sharks, as well as large scale industrial and artisinal fishing that occurs in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Costa Rica as well as in international waters is simply irrational."

Considered a status symbol dish with supposed aphrodisiac properties, shark fins are o­ne of the most sought after fishery products in Asia. Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipinos all pay up to US$256 for a pound of shark fin.

Michael Rothschild - MarViva
"It is a cultural tradition that has existed in those countries for hundreds, thousands of years. Therefore, we have to address not o­nly the problem generated by fishing activity, but we have to work with those groups."

Fishermen like Marcos Jimenez have become aware of this shark fin obsession from the other side of the ocean. Both the shark fin craze and a severe economic crisis, that has hit the fishing industry, are causing Jimenez and thousands of Costa Rican fishermen to set their lines and fill their holds with shark fins, in a direct challenge to fishery regulations.

Marcos Jimenez - Costa Rican Fisherman
Marcos: Sometimes it's a month, month and a half and we don't earn anything.
Journalist (Gerardo Zamora): Do you have to go far to find sharks?
Marcos: To Ecuador, to Colombia, to Chile...
Journalist (Gerardo Zamora): And you don't have any problems with the authorities here?Marcos: If they get ya, well if the law gets ya...
Journalist (Gerardo Zamora): You have to do it to survive....
Marcos: Because what we've got here in Costa Rica, you can forget about it. Hey, here, you can't make a living. And the fishing...it's o­n its way out.

Asian fishermen have also put two and two together and have not wasted any time in crossing over to this side of the Pacific. Our regional waters have historically been known for diverse shark populations, making Costa Rica o­ne of the most ideal places for fishing sharks, and it's even happening in protected areas.

Jorge Ballestero, Vice-President - PRETOMA (Sea Turtle Restoration Program of Costa Rica) "We have data o­n the foreign fleets fishing near Cocos Island, or rather, shark finning near Cocos Island, because this really is their principal operation, it's the most profitable for them, they cut off the fins and discard the bodies into the water."

No o­ne is questioning the abundance of our waters. The figures do not lie. Last year alone, Costa Rica exported 533 metric tonnes of shark fin. That means the death of 400,000 sharks.

Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, Minister - MINAE
"The scientific information, which is not abundant, even though it's scarce, tells us that the majority of these populations have disappeared. 40 years ago, the fishing was abundant a mere 50 miles from the coast. Now we have to go 300, 400 miles offshore. There are simply fewer and fewer resources each year."

A ban o­n fishing in protected areas is just o­ne of three legal measures our authorities can apply to slow the massacre of sharks.

But let's look at the other two measures. Right now, foreign fishing vessels land at our ports and must abide by certain regulations.

The Costa Rican port regulations offer these foreign fishermen two options: they can either bring entire sharks, with their fins attached; or they can bring the sharks with fins unattached...but o­nly if the fins correspond to a certain fin to carcass weight ratio. In theory this means that, while at sea, fishermen must save considerable space in the hold for shark bodies, and as a result kill fewer sharks per voyage. Unfortunately, this is not the standard practice; instead, what you get is the infamous shark finning...

Michael Rothschild - MarViva
"They cut off the fins and toss the bodies back into the sea, not using the entire shark. It's a disturbing practice. It's just not the same as keeping the entire shark in your hold, and using the entire shark resource rather than just the fins. This is the process of shark finning."

Cutting the fins and discarding the rest of the suffering shark...this is shark finning. Aside from the agony it means for the dying shark, it allows fishermen to save space in the hold and continue setting more lines of hooks to catch more and more sharks, a situation that would not exist if they had to store the entire shark in the hold. And when it comes to obeying a certain proportion between fin and carcass weight, loopholes for thwarting this regulation abound.

Jorge Ballestero - PRETOMA
"To abide by the proportion of bodies to fins, they discard the large bodies, fill the hold with those fins and keep a few small bodies to obey the proportion. Rather than discourage shark finning, this policy promotes shark finning."

Furthermore, fishermen thumb their noses at the third means of regulation: controls at the docks.

Jorge Ballestero - PRETOMA
"A law exists, it's the Customs Law, that establishes which docks are authorized for landing products. In Puntarenas, it would be...the dock in Caldera, the dock for the cruise ships, and the INCOPESCA dock. What happens is that the landings take place at private docks, where authorities have limited access. For example, there have been situations where even the Coast Guard can't enter these private docks."

There are dozens of private docks in Puntarenas, the main Costa Rican fishing port. And these docks receive foreign fishing vessels by the hundreds that arrive at the most unusual hours of the night. Experts calculate that Puntarenas is the largest shark fin market in Central America. And the docks that are authorized are full up.

Ana Salas, Protection Department Coordinator - INCOPESCA (Costa Rican Institute of Fishing and Aquaculture)
"For us, it would be ideal if all the landings occurred in this dock, right here in our dock. However, we know that there are limitations. The same goes for the dock in Caldera. There are times when tuna fishing vessels have to wait for days to land because there isn't even space at Caldera."

Michael Rothschild - MarViva
"As a private dock, well in this country you're not authorized. Obviously, our authorities can't enter and that's where the problem starts. For controls, well you're talking about INCOPESCA, and you're talking about Customs because these fins are landed in our country but then they're exported."

The situation becomes even more confounded when the government fishery authority, the Costa Rican Institute of Fishing and Aquaculture (INCOPESCA), o­nly has three officials to inspect the arriving vessels an make sure they obey regulations.

Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, Minister - MINAE
"The country has not invested the resources that are required. The government institute, INCOPESCA, which for me is an institute with objectives that are very very clear, has really never been funded. Imagine that INCOPESCA has a budget that is much much smaller than that of INCOFER, and INCOFER, the railroad institute, technically doesn't even exist. That makes INCOPESCA an institution without a budget and without a law."

The challenge therefore is twofold: the absence of controls o­n the high seas turns the ocean into a wild west...

Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, Minister - MINAE
"Our president has determined that it is necessary to protect 25% of our Exclusive Economic Zone, that is, the national waters of Costa Rica. Costa Rica has already protected 25% of our land area for biodiversity conservation and the president is telling us to do the same with the ocean. We have a great treasure in our seas. The ocean territory of Costa Rica is nearly 11 times larger that our land area and the president has asked us to work towards a declaration for 25% of our national waters to be protected."

And o­n land, how does o­ne stop the massacre without controls at the ports? While answers to these questions continue to sleep in the depths of the sea, the king of the ocean, will continue to be the victim of the worst of the predators.