PRETOMA Responds to Taiwanese Government Statement o­n Taiwanese Shark Fishing Operations in Costa Rica

Taiwanese fishing vessels are violating Costa Rican fishing regulations and Customs law, and fishing illegally in Costa Rica's Exclusive Economic Zone

November 13, 2003, San Jose, Costa Rica - The Costa Rican organization, Sea Turtle Restoration Program (PRETOMA), released a statement today o­n the operations of Taiwanese fishing vessels in Costa Rica.  The statement is in response to an October 7, 2003 communiqué, widely disseminated by the Fisheries Agency of Taiwan under the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture, which claimed that Taiwan fishing vessels do not catch sharks or collect shark fins in Costa Rican waters.

PRETOMA points out that the Taiwanese communiqué failed to mention the following:

• The Taiwanese flag long line fishing vessel, Sheng I Tsay 3, was filmed pirate fishing in the Costa Rican Exclusive Economic Zone o­n May 19, 2002.  The vessel was officially denounced by PRETOMA.  However, this vessel has returned routinely to Puntarenas, the largest Pacific port in Costa Rica, and landed tonnes of shark products.

• The long line fishing vessel, Goidau Ruey No.1 owned by Goidau Ruey Industrial of Taiwan, was seen by 4 Costa Rican Coast Guard officials illegally landing enough shark fins to fill three trucks o­n May 31, 2003 at a private dock in Puntarenas.  The Costa Rican Coast Guard officially denounced the illegal landing of these shark fins—a violation of the Costa Rican shark finning ban which mandated fins must be landed attached to the carcass.  The cargo declaration of this vessel o­nly listed 53 tonnes of frozen fish.  The captain of this vessel was Taiwanese and all crew members were either Taiwanese or Chinese.

• In Puntarenas, o­n July 31, 2003, the Taiwanese vessel Ho Tsai Fa No. 18, was filmed in the middle of the night docked next to piles of shark fins that were being thawed and placed into more than 28 sacks.  Although Costa Rican Coast Guard officials asked to investigate the vessel, INCOPESCA (Costa Rican Fishery Department) officials disregarded their petition, giving the implausible story that the fins had come from another vessel.

• During the months of June and July of 2003, of 50 foreign fishing vessels that arrived at Puntarenas, 16 flew the flag of Taiwan.  These vessels were all long-liners, the type of vessel used to capture sharks, and all landed products at private docks.  Their gross tonnage ranged between 60 and 266 metric tonnes.  Some of these vessels listed shark products o­n their general cargo declarations.  Most of them however, merely listed the term "frozen fish" o­n the general cargo declaration, and it is o­nly upon closer examination of cargo records that o­ne finds that they landed hundreds of tonnes of shark products.

"Every landing of a Taiwanese long line fishing vessel in Costa Rica is in violation of our national laws," states Randall Arauz, Director of PRETOMA.  "Our Customs Law and Ministry of Transportation regulations clearly state it is illegal for foreign vessels to land at privately owned docks, yet those are the o­nly docks where Taiwanese long line vessels go to land cargo in Costa Rica."