A few days ago, it was learned that the Hammerhead, Silky and Fox Shark were officially included as protected species by the Costa Rican Wildlife Conservation Law. The environment ministry has sanctioned this decree. Previously they were fished like any commercial species, with practically no restrictions.
It turns out, now the landing, commercialization or export of sharks in danger of extinction will not be allowed. A great achievement as part of a long struggle of several Non-Governmental Ecological Organizations in Costa Rica.
Sinac publishes the official list of endangered species
The National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC), published the Official List of Endangered Species, and with Reduced and Threatened Populations, which has Gaceta number, No. 93, dated May 17, 2,021.
As we mentioned earlier, the list includes the three species: hammerhead shark (critically endangered), the thresher shark (endangered), and the silky shark (vulnerable), all species threatened with extinction.
Therefore, the Wildlife Conservation Law does not allow the extraction and commercialization of these wildlife species (Article 14 subsection c) or the international trade of their products (Article 75).
Regional defender
Randall Arauz, defender of sharks and member of the international non-profit organization “Fins Attached Marine Research and Conservation”, confirmed that the former Minister of the Environment Carlos Manuel Rodrígue (year 2019), the Vice Minister of the Sea Haydee Rodríguez (2019), the National Council of Conservation Areas (CONAC), and President Carlos Alvarado admitted that shark species under threat of extinction should be protected by the Wildlife Conservation Law.
It is worth noting that the Costa Rican State, the Costa Rican Fisheries and Aquaculture Institute (Icopesca) and the National System of Conservation Areas (Sinac), were still facing a lawsuit in the Administrative Contentious Court of the country, for allowing hammerhead shark fishing.
Since 2016, the lawyer and specialist in environmental issues Walter Brenes, with the collaboration of Randall Arauz, sued the institutions and the State for a declaration of fishing interest that weighs on the hammerhead shark in the country.
Numerous organizations are active in the eco-struggle
A few weeks ago, Arauz along with numerous organizations, in addition to 54,000 thousand people from around the world, have fought for the protection of the shark, so much so that they held a sit-in in front of the presidential house to demand that the President of Costa Rica convene the project 21,754 and that in this way, the threatened species of sharks returned to being wildlife.
According to experts, overfishing is the greatest threat to sharks and other species
The initiative to protect marine species, such as sharks, dates back to May 2007, when the Costa Rican state enacted that sharks – were not wildlife – and the management of shark populations was handed over to Incopesca (national fishing administration), which is an institution, according to Arauz, “which has an inherent conflict of interest in its board of directors; the decisions that are made are always for the benefit of private companies and not to defend the public interest.”
Costa Rica, has an immensity of wonders that deserve to be protected, that is why we share this video with you …
