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.
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."
The murder trial for seven defendants accused of killing Costa Rican sea turtle conservationist Jairo Mora last year was delayed on Monday because one of the defendants allegedly is receiving medical care and is unable to attend. Stay tuned for updates.
Starting at 8 a.m. Monday, seven alleged poachers will stand trial in a Limón court for the murder last year of 26-year-old Costa Rican sea turtle conservationist Jairo Mora.
President Luis Guillermo Solís signed a decree Tuesday restricting industrial tuna fishing in Costa Rican waters.The decree is one of the first attempts to establish fishing zones in Costa Rica’s massive ocean territory and regulate the international super fleets that currently pull in the vast majority of the country’s tuna catch.
A boat carrying 32 tourists for a whale watching tour overturned Monday when a 6-foot wave crashed against the side of the boat, the Red Cross confirmed to The Tico Times. The tourists were mostly Costa Ricans on holiday for Independence Day.
Brazilian divers Thomaz Monteiro and Flavia Passaglia and Canadian Brian Thompson were diving in Costa Rica's Bat Islands in the country's northern Pacific when they were approached by a giant manta ray tangled in a fishing line.
