Costa Rica to Host World Fisheries Conclave

Nearly 30 countries and more than 250 international fisheries experts will land in the central Pacific port city of Puntarenas this November for the Fourth Annual International Fishers Forum.

The meeting, hosted by Fiesta Resort and Casino in the small coastal community of El Roble, just outside Puntarenas, will run Nov. 12-15 and has been organized by the Costa Rican Fisheries Institute (INCOPESCA), the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), among others.

To date, representatives from South Africa to Australia, Japan, Korea, Switzerland and Thailand, among dozens of others, have agreed to attend.

World fisheries leaders will gather in a series of seminars and workshops to discuss fishing, aquaculture and environmental topics, ranging from pelagic fisheries, long-lining, sustainable use of resources, by-catch (unintentional catch), shark-finning, commercialization and the effects of climate

change on the world’s oceans.

All seminars will be translated simultaneously into Spanish, English, French and Japanese.

In the past, the conference was held in New Zealand, Honolulu, in the U.S. state of Hawaii, and Yokohama, Japan. It is the first time the conference has been held in Costa Rica.

“We are very proud, and honored, to be able to host it,” said INCOPESCA president Carlos Villalobos in an interview last month.