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Sociedad Civil Opuesta a Granjas Atuneras en Costa Rica |
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Escrito por Admin
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Wednesday, 28 June 2006 |
June 29, 2006 – San Jose, Costa Rica
Ten Costa Rican organizations have filed an official denouncement at the Environmental Court against the Environmental Secretariat (SETENA) and the Department of Water Resources after a tuna farm project, proposed by the company Granjas Atuneras de Golfito S.A. was approved by both entities. The denouncement calls for the nullification of project permits and a halt to all project activities until the Court rules on the case. Official nullification requests have also been filed at SETENA and the Department of Water Resources calling for the cancellation of all resolutions emitted to approve the project. The groups will also be filing a suit at the Constitutional Court in the coming days.
Granjas Atuneras de Golfito S.A. presented their “Environmental Impact Study” at SETENA on October 31, 2004. SETENA approved the project on August 19, 2005 and the Department of Water Resources approved a water use concession on December 16, 2005. The first stage of the project would consist of installing 10 initial cylindrical net cages where tuna would be cultivated. The footprint of the installations would cover 12 square kilometers just one kilometer off shore from the town of Punta Banco at the mouth of the Golfo Dulce. However, the company wants to install net cages from Punta Banco all the way to Punta Burica. This would further the industrialization and destruction of the region which is currently famous for its pristine environment.
The groups opposing the project denounce the complete lack of transparency in the process of approving the project. Transparency and local involvement are required by the laws governing SETENA. The communities which would be most directly impacted by the tuna farm, such as Golfito, Pavones, Punta Banco and Cana Blanca, the latter being an indigenous reserve, were not consulted by SETENA. Local fishermen, sports fishing operators, as well as tourism and ecotourism groups were kept out of the process. Local NGOs working with community members for decades to promote conservation of the unique biodiversity of the region were also not consulted.
In addition to the lack of transparency, national law was violated when the project was approved because the Environmental Impact Study does not contain risk assessments.
There are multiple irreversbile risks that groups note were completely left out of the so called environmental impact study, such as red tides, death of sea turtles and dolphins, reduction of already diminished tuna stocks, parasites from imported tuna feed, and negative impacts on the two most important industries of the gulf, artisinal fishing and tourism/ecotourism. The project would also be an experiment; the cultivation of yellow fin tuna in net cages, has never been done anywhere in the world.
The executive decree 24282 MP MAG MIRENEM requires that a management plan be in place before marine projects are approved. Approving the proposed tuna project represents additional violation of national law because no management plan exists for the Golfo Dulce.
“The Golfo Dulce, with its delicate ecology and unique status as a tropical fjord, is the last place on earth where we should be developing an experiment such as this,” states Denise Echeverría of Foundation Vida Marina. “The proposed project represents a threat to the biodiversity of the entire Gulf and the livelihoods of communities which depend on it.”
“What we see here is most likely political dealing,” points out Randall Arauz. “The approval of the project by SETENA and the Department of Water Resources, the lack of transparency and zero risk analysis are indicative of orders from superiors of the Ministry of Environment in the previous administration, to approve the project, which is backed by foreign capital, probably as a political favor.”
For more information contact:
Denise Echeverría – Vida Marina 393-6554
Manuel Arroyo – Manglares del Sur S.A. 810-6767
Guillermo Baltodano Jiménez – Asoc. Vecinos de Punta Banco 236-0884
Randall Arauz – PRETOMA 241-5227
Organizations opposed to proposed tuna farms:
INVERSIONES PLAYA ZANCUDO S.A.
ASOCIACIÓN DE PRODUCTORES INDUSTRIALES Y ARTESANALES DE GOLFITO
BAHÍA BANANO S.A.
MANGLARES DEL SUR S.A.
ASOCIACIÓN CAMARA ECOTURISTICA DE GOLFITO
TISKITA S.A.
ASOCIACIÓN CAMARA DE PESCADORES ARTESANALES DEL PACIFICO SUR
ASOCIACIÓN DE PESCADORES DE PLAYA ZANCUDO
ASOCIACIÓN DE PESCADORES DE BAHÍA PAVONES
ASOCIACIÓN DE VECINOS DE PUNTA BANCO DE PAVON DE GOLFITO S.A.
FUNDACIÓN TISKITA
PRETOMA
VIDA MARINA
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Protecting Sharks and Sea Turtles in Costa Rica  
 
PRETOMA is a Costa Rican non-profit NGO founded in 1997. We are a marine conservation and research organization working to protect ocean resources and promote sustainable fisheries policies in Costa Rica and Central America.
Costa Rica has an image as a conservationist country. Indeed there are many positive laws and regulations on paper in Costa Rica. However, marine conservation is very far behind land conservation here, and furthermore, many of the positive laws and regulations that do exist go unenforced.
As a result, we direct our efforts in the following categories: - Direct in the field conservation projects
- Research and outreach onboard commercial fishing vessels
- Public awareness and education
- Litigation and policy advocacy
Specific activities: - We have conducted a public campaign against shark finning in Costa Rica including gathering 80,000 petitions urging the government to ban this practice.
- We constantly gather and publish data on sharks and sea turtles including in satellite tagging studies as well as studies on capture of these species in the national longline and shrimp fishing fleets.
- We have ongoing outreach programs with the commercial fishery sector to introduce practices and devices (e.g., TEDs and “de-hookers”) which mitigate impacts on non-target species.
- We maintain direct conservation projects to protect sea turtles and their nests on beaches on the Pacific coast (over 170,000 sea turtle hatchlings protected).
- We conduct year round public awareness marine conservation campaigns as well as education programs in schools, high schools and universities.
- We work directly with the Ministry of Environment and the Costa Rican Congress and regularly file lawsuits against government agencies such as the Fisheries Institute and Customs Department when policies promote unsustainable exploitation of marine resources.
- Please support our efforts to protect marine resources in Costa Rica and promote sustainable fisheries policies.
If you are interested in donating to PRETOMA or would like more information about our organization and projects please contact us at: info@tortugamarina.org. GRACIAS!
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