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 |
