Costa Rica says it will support protections for three additional shark species under the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species, despite contrary agreements with fishermen.
Environmental groups say recent decisions by the Solís administration will greatly harm local shark populations. Solís says he's protecting poor fishermen.
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.
Paul Watson is fed up with Costa Rica’s attempts to prosecute him. For 13 years, this tiny Central American country that promotes itself as a model of environmental responsibility has tried to put the bushy-haired marine conservationist in jail over an incident that occurred in 2002 in Guatemalan waters.
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.
The ocean conservation group Turtle Island Restoration Network has teamed up with the imagery crowdsourcing platform Tomnod.com to launch a campaign that allows conservation-minded Internauts to identify illegal fishing boats in satellite imagery of Cocos Island National Park.
"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.
QUITO, Ecuador – Ecuador seized around 200,000 shark fins and arrested three suspected traffickers in Manta, the country's main fishing port last week.
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.
