The Costa Rica News (TCRN) – A group of environmental organizations has called on the Costa Rican government to reform the National Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Incopesca) in order to avoid trawling and illegal fishing in protected sites.
The Front for Our Seas, composed of six environmental organizations, delivered a letter addressed to the president, Laura Chinchilla, and signed by 6,500 people through an online campaign.
In the letter, the Front for Our Seas accused Incopesca of “continuing impunity for illegal fishing at Cocos Island,” a natural heritage site, and of refusing to enforce the “capture and load limiting on species below their size at maturity.”
They also complained about the support of the institution to the fishing industry regarding shrimp trawling, which has been recognized as the most destructive fishing method that exists.
Environmentalists demanded that President Chinchilla send Congress a bill that would eliminate or reform the Incopesca board, believing that there are “private interests” for most of the sector representatives.
“Every day that passes without the desired reform, results in further deterioration of marine resources,” said Andres Jimenez, activist for Front Of Our Seas.
Costa Rica, a country with 4.5 million people and 51,000 square kilometers, is home to about 4.5% of the planet’s biodiversity and about 30% of the land is protected in National Parks and reserves.
However, the matter is different in the oceans, since only just over 1% of its 589,000 square kilometers of ocean is protected, which accounts for 3.5% of the world’s marine species, according to officials . (EFE)
The Costa Rica News (TCRN)
San Jose Costa Rica
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