Shrimp Trawlers Raping the Golfo Dulce of marine life, particularly the sea turtle
It is common knowledge that Shrimp Fishing and Gill-Netters in the Golfo Dulce area are depleting and raping the natural habitat of the endangered and protected sea turtles and other marine life, like dolphins, Dorado, Wahoo, and shark. Even with years of outcry from ecology conservation groups, little has been done about it until now … well, let hope!
The main problem with shrimp trawlers and gill-netters is their nets rape the sea, dragging in and killing everything that gets in their way. And since there is no real set of rules, let alone the enforcement of it … well I rest my case of how this has continued.
Hundreds of endangered Sea Turtles are killed by Shrimp Boats
Tico Times Editors Note: Way before ecology was a concern (in the mid 1970s) I remember fishing in Baja California Sur, we would barter beer for shrimp. I can not tell you how many times we jumped onboard a trawler and could not help looking at the dead baby marlin, sailfish and turtles the nets killed.
Randall Arauz, president of the Marine Turtle and Restoration Program (PRETOMA), said if the fishing institutes are serious about declaring the Golfo Dulce a responsible fishing area, they must first eliminate the shrimp trawlers, which he said have been notorious for pulling unnecessary bycatch out of the gulf. “We’ve been telling them for years to get shrimp boats out of here,” Arauz said.
Okay, so now what steps are being taken?
Last Saturday, officials from local and national fishing organizations and conservation groups met in the town hall in Puerto Jimenez to format a plan that would make the area a “marine area of responsible fishing” (AMPR). If the plan goes forward, in two-and-a-half-year it would eliminate shrimp trawlers from the area and the main focus would be conducting biological studies and teaching gillnet fishermen how to use sustainable fishing practices.
According to Donald McGuinness, (his brother is Bobby McGuinness, chosen world’s top captain of 2006 by the IGFA) president of Costa Rican Federation for Fishing Tourism (FECOPT). “It’s the only way to restore this gulf,” adding, “It’s already overfished.”
And Costa Rican Federation for Fishing Tourism (FECOPT) officials presented some sort of plan to some of the directors of the National Fisheries Institute (INCOPESCA) and members of the National Artisanal Fishing Federation. And all seemed to have one goal, removing fishing nets from the gulf.
What that plan is? – sorry I do not have that info. But keeping fingers cross, I’ll snag it like we did to the Central America Billfish Agreement, and have it available to download. And lets hope that other organization like The Billfish Foundation get activity involved, where they helped spearhead the ban on exporting billfish meat
On the sarcastic side, the United States has embargoed Costa Rica’s shrimp industry four times since 1999 because of a lack of use and enforcement of sustainable fishing practices.
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