The scientist charged the 14-foot female tiger shark and used a six-foot pole spear to place the transmitter.

The scientist charged the 14-foot female tiger shark and used a six-foot pole spear to place the transmitter.

The Costa Rican government will not sacrifice fishermen for sharks, President Luis Guillermo Solís said last week in response to his nomination for the unflattering Shark Enemy 2016 award.

Costa Rica’s National System of Conservation Areas placed a one-year moratorium on the exportation of hammerhead sharks last Thursday. The moratorium will put Costa Rica in compliance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, known as CITES.

Environmental groups are outraged by new agreements between the Costa Rican government and the fishing industry which they say will roll back protections for endangered and threatened shark species. The government says the new measures will guarantee that local fishermen can make a living.

"Most of the ocean is cold and dark. Most of what is known about the ocean is in that upper 1,000 feet or so. You look at a spot on the map and if you only know what’s at the surface you don’t really know what’s going on, any more than you would know about New York City if you just looked at the tops of the buildings," said world-renowned oceanographer and explorer Sylvia Earle.

The airline made the announcement via its Twitter account in response to several queries posed by users of the social media site. The Tico Times confirmed the announcement with the airline’s media office.

Campaign backers hope a speedboat will help park rangers better protect the island against illegal fishing. Donations can be made through text message, at banks and supermarkets, and at special collection events.

The suspension came in response to the controversy sparked after environmental authorities gave permission to the company Smalley Development S.A. to export more than 1,200 kilograms of hammerhead fins on Feb. 16.

Environmentalists and administration officials are at loggerheads over what to do with more than 1,200 kilograms of shark fins — the equivalent of about 2,000 hammerhead sharks — caught as bycatch. The disagreement extends to regulations published in February that environmentalists contend threaten endangered shark populations.