Starting in Jan, 2012 the monthly fishing license will be discontinued and fees will go up.
In the past, tourist and nonresident anglers could pick whether or not they wanted a monthly ($13 USD) and/or yearly fishing license ($25 USD). Considering that most anglers come to fish once a year (about 98%) they’d pick the cheaper. Fishermen who don’t know this in advance have been known to get a little upset at having to shell out cash at the dock to get one before they set forth on a $1200/day sport fisher charter. Fishing licenses are not usually included on a charter and have to be paid for when on the docks.
But soon that will change – affective Jan 1, 2011 sport fishing licenses will go up in price. And [most importantly] Costa Rica will no longer provide the low-cost monthly fishing license, instead, they will force anglers to buy the more expensive yearly license at $30 USD.
Costa Rican Fisheries Institute (Incopesca) claims the price hikes and single yearly license are necessary due to the rising cost of administrating the fishing license system. Read more...(716 words, 3 images, estimated 2:52 mins reading time)
One of the bad things about growing up in a beach community and fishing since you can remember, you know what fresh fish is. So when a friend invited me to this new trendy sushi place in San Diego that boasted it had the freshest fish in town, I balked. She continued saying, “The Ahi (or Yellowfin) is flown in daily, and the sashimi is out of this world!”
FRESH! – I chuckled. She and the restaurant probably had no clue of what fresh is all about.
Like making ceviche, one of the keys to buy “as-fresh-as-possible-fish” from the market is to look for bright, clear and glassy eyes. The eyes are the window to a truly fresh fish, for they fade quickly into gray dullness. If the eyes are clouded over, that fish has been dead for a while and a big NO NO for sashimi.
But getting back, and to set the record right, the moment the fish dies it starts to decay - with decay, the fishy smell starts. Fresh fish does not smell fishy. Packing a fish in ice as soon as it lands on board a boat just delays the decay. The time it gets to a dinner plate … well I rest my case on this issue of how fresh is that fish. Read more...(566 words, 2 images, estimated 2:16 mins reading time)
Herbert Nanne TBF Costa Rica. Nanne is a biologist and The Billfish Foundation’s (TBF) Central America Conservation Director.
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Costa Rica, one of the world’s premier sportfishing destinations, has named Herbert Nanne, and Monica Gutierrez to the country’s recently formed Sportfishing and Tourism Commission.
Nanne is a biologist and The Billfish Foundation’s (TBF) Central America Conservation Director. Gutierrez is a lawyer and President of Pronature, a sister conservation entity to TBF.
After a TBF sponsored socio-economic study was presented last year on the positive impact sportfishing has for the country, the Costa Rica Fisheries and Aquaculture Institute (INCOPESCA) created the commission in July 2010. Its duties include creating alternative projects among the small and medium-scale artisan coastal fleets to reduce commercial fishing during closed fishing seasons. It’s also charged with promoting sportfishing in Costa Rica and proposing conservation measures to be adopted by INCOPESCA for all sportfishing species.
“We’ve started discussions to promote converting commercial fishers to sportfishing and eco-tourism operations,” said Nanne. “We’re beginning in the Gulf of Nicoya, a highly productive area that is severely overexploited. The nearby ports of Puntarenas and Caldera are visited by cruise-liners and the tourists could be taken on sportfishing trips or for tours to observe the beauties of the islands and mangrove estuarine systems where tropical fauna is abundant. Read more...(539 words, 2 images, estimated 2:09 mins reading time)
The IGFA's 2010 World Record Achievement Award went to Bobby McGuinness, who set more world records last year than any other captain anywhere.
Captain Bobby McGuinness has done it again! For the second time in his illustrious 30 years as a sportfishing captain in Costa Rica, Bobby McGuinness was named the year’s (2010) top captain in the world by the prestigious International Game Fish Association (IGFA).
The IGFA also presented Bobby with its 2010 Lifetime Achievement award.
This is the second time the IGFA has honored Bobby McGuinness, who fishes out of Golfito in Costa Rica’s South Pacific, as the world’s top captain; the first was in 2006. Over the past 8-10 years he has a long string of IGFA achievements: he made the IGFA’s Top 10 list of guides and captains from around the world in 2008, tying for 5th place that year with 13 IGFA world fishing records. He also boasts an IGFA 3rd place certificate for 2009, and a 2nd place IGFA Saltwater Captain diploma for 2004. Originally from Golfito, Bobby has also fished out of Quepos in the Central Pacific coast and Flamingo in the North Pacific coast, Panama and the United States (North Carolina). Read more...(644 words, 2 images, estimated 2:35 mins reading time)
After becoming the first Central American country to ban commercial netting and longlining from its waters, Panama is launching a socio-economic study to improve its sportfishing tourism and marine conservation efforts. (Photo courtesy of The Billfish Foundation)
The Billfish Foundation tapped to conduct 18 month long socio-economic research…
PANAMA CITY, Panama and FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla., USA – Panama’s minister of science, technology and innovation has announced a socio-economic research study on the impact of sportfishing tourism. The Billfish Foundation in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., will conduct the research.
In a conference call, Dr. Ruben Berrocal, National Secretary of SENACYT (Secretaría Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación) said, “My ministry is involved in tourism and the impact of sportfishing on the local marine life is very exciting, so we’re supporting this research.
”He said other Panamanian ministers are also involved to enact sound environmental policies to preserve Panama’s precious resources while creating opportunities for economic prosperity. Last summer for the conservation of its marine life and its country’s socio-economic growth, Panama banned commercial purse seining. Earlier this year it also restricted longlining.
Dr. Russell Nelson, TBF’s Science Dir., said there are three parts to the research study. Read more...(716 words, 1 image, estimated 2:52 mins reading time)
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