Coast Guard nabs two boats, four men for fishing illegally

Mike McDonald September 3, 2010

In two separate incidents this week, the Costa Rican Coast Guard captured two boats and arrested four fishermen for illegal fishing practices.

On the country’s southern Pacific coast, the Coast Guard captured a boat and detained two crew members who were caught fishing illegally inside Ballena National Marine Park.

According to the Security Ministry, when officials approached the boat, the two-man crew sped away, forcing the Coast Guard to give chase.

The Coast Guard captured the boat and the two men – one Costa Rican and one Nicaraguan – and confiscated 20 kilograms of fish. The Coast Guard presented the fish as evidence to the local prosecutor, who will decide whether to press charges.

In a separate incident, the Coast Guard detained a boat and two men who were fishing with dragnets in river mouths near Westfalia, in the Atlantic province of Limón. Under Costa Rican law, the use of dragnets is prohibited in rivers, canals, lagoons and coastal waters. By law, fishermen may use the nets only in “open sea.”

The Coast Guard presented the case to the prosecutor’s office in Limón.