In a letter published as a full-page ad in Spanish-language daily La Nación on Monday, conservation group Sharkproject International announced the nomination of President Luis Guillermo Solís for the 2016 Shark Enemy of the Year award.
At least 40 sharks were killed by an illegal shark-finning boat detained off the shores of Golfito in Costa Rica's South Pacific. The boat was discovered during a two-day Coast Guard operation on Sunday and Monday.
The case started in 2011, when a boat belonging to the case’s defendant, Taiwanese-Costa Rican Kathy Tseng Chang, docked in Puntarenas, on Costa Rica's central Pacific coast. Fishermen on Tseng’s boat had allegedly carved out all of the meat, bones and innards of 36 sharks, leaving only the spinal column with the fins attached by strips of skin.