FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (please distribute widely)

CONTACT: Randall Arauz, President
TEL:  +(506) 241-5227
FAX:  +(506) 236-6017

PRETOMA: New Costa Rican Customs Dept Shark Fin Regulation should be Immediately Replaced

August 5, 2004 - San Jose, Costa Rica
PRETOMA considers the Customs department's new shark fin regulation, developed in response to a recent Constitutional Court ruling, as ineffective, wasteful of tax funds and calls for it to be replaced with the simple, effective measure of o­nly permitting vessels to land at officially authorized docks.

In the ruling the Constitutional Court declared that Customs had failed to address PRETOMA's denouncements regarding illegal landings of shark fins at private docks, and failed to respond to a request for a precautionary measure to halt illegal activity, in a reasonable amount of time. 

As a result, the Court ordered Customs to resolve the request PRETOMA had planted.

PRETOMA's specific request was to close the unauthorized private docks to landings by foreign fishing vessels until the private docks were officially authorized to receive such vessels and until investigations into illegal shark fin landings at private docks were completed. 

With adoption of a new regulation, Customs claims now to have resolved PRETOMA's request, yet PRETOMA categorically rejects such claim and points out severe flaws with the regulation.

The new Customs regulation calls o­n Customs officials to place a costly seal over the hold of foreign fishing vessels when vessels first arrive to Costa Rica.  This seal can then o­nly be removed by an INCOPESCA official when the vessel arrives at a dock.
 
"The new measure implies that foreign vessels are acting illegally o­n their way to the dock, but that's nowhere close to being the issue," says Jorge Ballestero, Vice President of PRETOMA.   "The real issue is what goes o­n during the landings.  These vessels are landing shark fins, uncontrolled at unauthorized docks.  The new measure does nothing to stop that.  Therefore, the measure is worthless.  It's unnecessarily complex, yet achieves nothing."

"Rather than specifically address the concerns of the denouncements and court case, and rather than implement the precautionary measure solicited, Customs has invented a measure which completely misses the point," says Randall Arauz, President of PRETOMA. 

"This measure represents negligence and we urgently and vociferously call for it to be immediately replaced with the simple measure of demanding that foreign vessels land o­nly at officially authorized docks," continues Arauz. 

In a letter to the Director of Customs regarding the new measure, PRETOMA brought up the following additional concerns and asked the following questions:

• If no Customs inspectors are present when the vessel arrives, who is going to place the seal o­n the hold?
• If now INCOPESCA inspector is present at the dock who will remove the seal? 
• Why doesn't Customs simply authorize the private docks so that they are in the public interest?

In the same letter PRETOMA also pointed out that the measure includes a huge loophole.  o­nce the seal is removed there is no guarantee that inspectors will be present during the landing of products.  This allows vessels to continue to land tons of shark fins at private docks with no official supervision.  The lack of official supervision is greatly facilitated by allowing vessels to land at private docks.  Not even government officials have free access to private docks, not a single private dock has received official authorization to receive foreign vessels and use of these docks has for years been considered by PRETOMA to be a clear violation of the public interest.  

PRETOMA also pointed out that a public, officially authorized dock, administered by INCOPESCA exists in Puntarenas where all foreign fishing vessels could land with complete supervision until the private docks are authorized. 

"If Customs wanted to best control the landings by foreign vessels, it would use this authorized dock, but oddly the dock is almost never used and Customs uses the unauthorized docks instead where it's hard to control," said Arauz. 

"Customs is inviting the opportunity for illegal activity to occur and that's a real big question."