Sailfish tourney results in :

Did intervention have anything to do with the success of the 73rd International Light Tackle Association Sailfish Tournament hosted this year by Costa Rica at Crocodile Bay Resort and Marina in Puerto Jiménez? I think so.

The recent demise of nearly 300 sea turtles in the Southern Zone of Costa Rica has been of officially declared a result of illegal fishing methods. The problem stemmed from the illegal catching of live bait in the protected Golfo Dulce, and then using the bait on long lines in areas where live bait is not allowed.

The result was a massive kill of not only sea turtles but sailfish as well, and complaints were filed with various agencies including the new Vice Minister of Oceans José Lino Chaves. Within a week, he was personally in the area and heading a patrol that captured 14 boats from the Golfito and Quepos areas. The boats were fishing bait inside the gulf, and Chaves filed suits against all of them.

Within days, many of the boats fishing illegally headed out of the area. INCOPESCA also declared a ban on all commercial longline activity within the boundaries of the tournament during fishing days. The result was some boats getting more than 30 bites a day.

Teams from Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the United States competed in the four-day catch-and-release event. The results showed that if fishing regulations are followed and enforced, Costa Rica has a chance of reclaiming its former spot as “Sailfish Capital of the World.” The tournament was dedicated to Tia Nora Schofield, who broke down the gender barrier, earning women the right to compete in fishing tournaments nearly 50 years ago.

Fifteen boats competed in the event, and the leader board was constantly changing amongst anglers, boats and teams. The format of teammates fishing on separate boats each date but accumulating points for their respective teams eliminated the need for observers. The opportunity for participants to fish with so many different anglers allowed old friendships to be renewed.

More than 800 fish were raised, and 406 were caught and released during the four days of fishing. The final results are as follows.

	TEAMS	TOT PTS
1ST	ASOC. NACIONAL de PESCA de GUATEMALA – #1	3700
2ND	ASOC. NACIONAL de PESCA de GUATEMALA – #3	3400
3RD	PORT ARANSAS ROD & REEL CLUB – USA	3400
4	CLUB AMATEUR de PESCA #1 – COSTA RICA	3200
5	CLUB AMATEUR de PESCA #2 – COSTA RICA	3100
6	CLUB AMATEUR de PESCA #3 – COSTA RICA	3100
7	CLUB NAUTICO de STE. DOM. – DOMINICAN REPUBLIC	2600
8	OCEAN CITY LIGHT TACKLS CLUB – USA	2600
9	ARRECHO FISHING TEAM – PUERTO RICO	2500
10	ASOC. NACIONAL de PESCA de GUATEMALA – #2	2500
11	SAILFISH & TARPON CLUB OF MEXICO	2500
12	PUERTO RICO LIGHT TACKLE ANGLERS	2400
13	SADSAA – SOUTH AFRICA	1900
14	PLAYA GRANDE YACHTING CLUB – VENEZUELA	1700
15	CLUB AMATEUR de PESCA #4 – COSTA RICA	1600

PLACE	ANGLERS		DAY 1	DAY 2	DAY 3	DAY 4	TOTAL

1ST	JULIO	MANSYLLA	300	100	400	900	1700
2ND	MATTHEW	BARRAZOTTO	100	200	200	1100	1600
3RD	JAVIER	MONTEALEGRE	300	300	300	600	1500
4	LUIS PEDRO	FORTUNY	400	0	700	300	1400
5	RICARDO	SEEVERS	200	200	600	300	1300
6	RICKY	JAEN	300	200	200	600	1300
7	DR. CARLOS	FORTUNY	300	200	400	400	1300
8	JUAN MANUEL	COBAR	400	100	200	600	1300
9	LUIS LEOPOLDO	GONZALEZ	300	0	500	500	1300
10	ALVARO	DE LA HOZ	100	200	500	500	1300
11	ALBERTO	LAURENCICH	0	100	700	400	1200
12	JORGE N.	GUTIERREZ	300	200	600	100	1200
13	CHARLES	DONATO	100	0	700	300	1100
14	ALVARO	FORTUNY	300	100	400	300	1100
15	ORLANDO	SOTO	200	100	300	500	1100
16	JOHN	PRICE	100	100	500	400	1100
17	CARLOS	FORTUNY, JR.	200	100	500	200	1000
18	ANTON	LINGENFELDER	100	0	500	400	1000
19	FERNANDO	MERCK	200	0	500	300	1000
20	DOMINGO	DOMINGUEZ	100	200	300	300	900
21	JOSE	SCHIFTER	100	100	400	300	900
22	JAVIER	PADILLA	200	100	200	400	900
23	CARLOS	PADILLA	200	0	300	300	800
24	ROGER	GALINDO	300	100	300	100	800
25	RODRIGO	GUZMAN	300	300	200	0	800
26	EVELIO	MEDEROS	100	200	300	200	800
27	GABRIEL B.	RIVAS	100	200	200	300	800
28	HUMBERTO	DONATO	100	0	200	400	700
29	TIM	CHOATE	100	200	200	200	700
30	CARLOS	BARNES	100	200	100	300	700
31	FERNANDO	PINTO	0	100	100	500	700
31	MANOLO	MATIENZO	200	0	0	500	700
33	MICHAEL	KELLY	100	100	200	200	600
34	DIEGO	CABRERA	100	0	300	200	600
35	JOHN	CARBONE	0	0	400	200	600
36	MANUEL	COBAR	100	100	200	200	600
37	NILS	GUTIERREZ	100	100	0	400	600
38	WALLY	HEINSEN	0	300	200	0	500
39	PAUL	BORCHERDS	0	0	200	300	500
40	CARLOS ENRIQUE	MONTEROS	100	0	200	100	400
41	BRUNO	RODRIGUEZ	100	0	100	200	400
42	WYNAND	WIERING	0	0	0	400	400
43	NORA	SCHOFIELD	100	0	100	200	400
44	BRUNO	DI BENEDETTO	100	100	0	100	300
45	STEPHANIE	CHOATE	100		100	100	300
	ALTERNATE					400
	TOTALS		7000	4600	13500	15500	40200

PLACE	BOATS	DAY 1	DAY 2	DAY 3	DAY 4	TOTAL
1ST	GERMAN	600	500	1500	1800	4400
2ND	MCGUINNESS	700	600	1200	1500	4000
3RD	FRANCISCO	700	500	1400	1000	3600
4	CHEPE	600	500	1600	900	3600
5	BOOLO	800	300	800	1400	3300
6	SAMBA	600	300	800	1200	2900
7	XIPHIAS	300	300	900	1300	2800
8	OLDEMAR	300	300	800	1000	2400
9	MELVIN	200	500	800	800	2300
10	WILL	400	100	800	800	2100
11	FREDDY	500	200	600	800	2100
12	GEOVANNY	100	300	700	900	2000
13	EDWIN	400	100	600	700	1800
14	ALPHA MIKE	500	0	400	800	1700
15	MAURICIO	300	100	600	600	1600