No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeTopicsBusinessStop giving away free tuna fishing licenses, says NGO

Stop giving away free tuna fishing licenses, says NGO

A nonprofit fishing group, the Costa Rican Fishing Federation (FECOP), filed a constitutional complaint last week alleging that a law granting free fishing licenses to international tuna boats is unconstitutional.

The law in contention, known as the Ferreto Law, was created in the mid-1970s to encourage tuna canneries to open in Costa Rica, and it gives a free fishing license renewal to any boat that sells at least 300 tons of discounted tuna caught with a first license to the Costa Rica-based tuna cannery, Sardimar. According to FECOP’s complaint, the law allows international purse seine boats to fish tuna in Costa Rican waters, paying only $9 per ton of tuna to the Costa Rican government.

Recommended: Tuna company, fishermen and environmental groups squabble over unpublished fishing decree

“In Costa Rica it is unconstitutional to give away our natural resources,” Enrique Ramírez, FECOP’s executive director, told The Tico Times. “Right now the government is giving away the most valuable natural resource we have in the Pacific Ocean. It’s the same thing as if we were giving away gold, or wood, or parrots or whatever.”

INCOPESCA gave 39 free licenses to foreign-flagged industrial tuna boats between 2008 and 2011. The licenses could have brought in as much as $958,000 to the state, according to FECOP.

 

Popular Articles

Alaska Airlines Offers 25% Off Flights to Costa Rica

Here is some news that you might find interesting if you're thinking of coming here later this year. You'll need to act right away...

Keylor Navas Returns to Costa Rica for Gold Cup, Catalonia Friendly Uncertain

Keylor Navas, the 38-year-old goalkeeper, is set to rejoin the Costa Rican national team for the 2025 Gold Cup, marking his return after retiring...

Costa Rica’s Massive Fish Kills Also Kills Tourism

In Costa Rica’s Caribbean lowlands, the Madre de Dios and Santa Marta lagoons in Barra del Pacuare, spanning Matina and Siquirres in Limón, are...
spot_img
Costa Rica Tours
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait

Latest Articles