Costa Rica marine conservation

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.

During a meeting for the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals last week, members added a record 21 shark, ray and sawfish species to Appendix II of the convention, which includes all "migratory species requiring international protection."

Costa Rica's National Police have seized what is likely the biggest illegal stash of poached sea turtle eggs this year, just outside of Nicoya, Guanacaste.

PLAYA OSTIONAL, Guanacaste – By 7 p.m., it is already impossibly dark to read the signs on buildings. Every 100 meters or so, a singular yellow street lamp illuminates a small, dim area of the dirt road. The road is bumpy and it is dangerously difficult to see the dips and holes from dried tire marks in the mud.

PLAYA OSTIONAL, Guanacaste – Annual rainfall has decreased by 52 percent this year in the Guanacaste region, according to the National Meteorological Institute, affecting the hatching rates of turtles in Ostional, a mass nesting site on Costa Rica's Pacific coast for the olive ridley species.

GUANGZHOU, China – A sprawling market floor in Guangzhou was once a prime location for shark fin, one of China's most expensive delicacies. But now it lies deserted, thanks to a ban from official banquet tables and a celebrity-driven ad campaign.

Biologists consider the protected area a perfect location between the northern and southern hemispheres for the birth of new generations of marine mammals and other species.

In three separate seizures along Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast from Playas del Coco to Golfito, authorities arrested the 11 fishermen who were transporting 4.1 metric...

Expected restrictions on industrial tuna fishing have been stalled pending the publication of a decree signed by former President Laura Chinchilla.

A comprehensive Tico Times analysis of the environmental successes and failures by the outgoing National Liberation Party administration of Laura Chinchilla. The first part in a two part series about the future of the environment in Costa Rica.