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...(715 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...(564 words, 2 images, estimated 2:15 mins reading time)
This Grilled Marlin (including Sailfish) are no longer on the menus at four of Costa Rica's Hilton Hotels.
In a bold move, Hilton Hotels and Resorts in Costa Rica’s restaurants set example for others in promoting sportfishing ecotourism by taking sailfish and marlin off their menus.
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. USA. – The Billfish Foundation (TBF) entered into an agreement with its conservation partner, the Costa Rica Sport Fishing Federation (FECOPT) and four participating Hilton Worldwide hotels in Costa Rica, pledging to stop serving all sailfish and marlin.
Because of a socio-economic study released last year by TBF showing the huge economic value of sportfishing tourism to Costa Rica, the participating hotels adopted the ban on billfish from their restaurants in part to promote responsible and sustainable tourism in the nation.
The four properties include the DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Costa Rica in Puntarenas, the DoubleTree Cariari by Hilton San Jose, the Hilton Papagayo Costa Rica Resort and Spa, and the Hilton Garden Inn Liberia Airport. The bold conservation move with the hotels and resorts came after two months of discussions with FECOPT Executive Director Enrique Ramirez. Read more...(620 words, 1 image, estimated 2:29 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)
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. USA. – Costa Rican government officials released information to The Billfish Foundation (TBF) of the seizure from a seafood exporter, of over 7,000 kilos of sailfish meat bound for Peru. Sailfish are protected species in the popular Costa Rican fishery.
Investigators from two agencies — SENASA (National Animal Health Service) and INCOPESCA (Costa Rican Fisheries and Aquaculture Institute) — seized 7012 kilos of whole sailfish carcasses. The company had falsified documents declaring the shipment as striped marlin which is presently a legal billfish for exporting.
The Billfish Foundation’s (TBF) Chief Scientist Dr. Russell Nelson and TBF Central American Conservation Director Herbert Nanne received word of the seizure from Dr. Rolando Ramirez of INCOPESCA.
Tropical Seafood Export SA - Producto Marlin Rosado Congelado
Costa Rica Sport Fishing Federation (FECOPT) Executive Director Enrique Ramirez said in newspaper reports that illegal commercial fishing and the exporting of sailfish meat had been reported for months as FECOPT tried to get the authorities to take action. FECOPT was formed to represent the interests of its anglers and the sport fishing tourism industry. Read more...(521 words, 3 images, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)
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