Sea Turtle Satellite Tagging Expedition at Cocos Island, Costa Rica Swims Into Action:
Seeks Information Needed to Guide Creation of High Seas Marine Protected Areas for Endangered Marine Species

(San José, Costa Rica – Sept 1, 2009)
A 10-day sea turtle tagging research expedition to Cocos Island National Park, Costa Rica successfully outfitted three green turtles and one hawksbill turtle with satellite transmitters in order to follow their movements, as part of a long-term research project to understand the importance of Cocos Island for highly pelagic species that migrate throughout the Pacific.  Two other green turtles had been previously tagged last March.  The aim of the study is to document migration patterns of east Pacific endangered marine species in order to establish protected migration corridors for these species.

Green turtle to be tagged

Each time one of the four sea turtles surfaces for air, the high-tech satellite transmitter, glued to its shell with epoxy, sends a signal to a series of satellites circling the Earth, which determines the turtle location and the water temperature, and sends the information directly to researchers computers.

“The information we are collecting is necessary if we are to protect these amazing species as they migrate thousands of miles across the Pacific, where they encounter industrial fishing operations, which catch and kills thousands of turtles every year,” said Randall Arauz, President of the Costa Rican NGO, and co-leader of the trip.

In total, 26 sea turtles were also marked given permanent flipper ID tags and nine turtles received acoustic tags, which are recorded by underwater receivers placed around Cocos Island, as well as other sites in the Pacific, including the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, and Malpelo Island, Colombia.

“If we don’t better manage industrial fisheries to avoid interactions with the ancient sea turtles that out-survived the dinosaurs, we will lose some species in the very near future,” warned Todd Steiner, a biologist and executive director of the US-based Turtle Island Restoration Network, and co-leader of the trip with Arauz.  “The best way to do this is to understand turtle migrations and reduce fishing effort, especially in migration hot-spots.”

Attaching the satellite transmitter

In addition to tagging sea turtles, a total of 6 more scalloped hammerhead sharks were equipped with acoustical tags on this trip, for a total of 60 since the project initiated in 2005.  Previous tagged hammerheads indicate the sharks move back and forth between Cocos, Galapagos, and Malpelo Islands.  Furthermore, a new permit was issued to PRETOMA for the collection of tissue samples to set up a marine shark and turtle “gene bank”, for genetic analysis, and samples from 20 turtles and 18 white-tip sharks, were collected that will be made available to researchers.

According to Arauz, the information generated so far is proving that Cocos Island is an important feeding, resting, and nursery location for many pelagic species of sharks and turtles.  “To protect this international gem, Costa Rica must enact larger no-fishing zones around the island and increase enforcement activities,” said Arauz.

Participants included biologists and research assistants from Costa Rica, US, Colombia, Australia, and Bellarus, and the expedition used the excellent support services and accommodations of the Costa Rican-based UnderSea Hunter live-aboard dive company.

For more pictures of the turtle/shark tagging expedition, click here

The expedition was supported by the Whitley Fund for Nature, the BBC Wildlife Fund, and Pretoma’s Corporate Membership.

Releasing the turtle

For more information, contact:

Randall Arauz, PRETOMA, Costa Rica.  (506) 2241 5227, rarauz@pretoma.org; info@pretoma.org
Todd Steiner, Turtle Island Restoration Network, 415-663-8590 X103, tsteiner@tirn.net

Pretoma is a Costa Rican Civil Association of Public Interest and is an active member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature IUCN and the World Society for the Protection of Animals WSPA. For more information visit www.pretoma.org

Turtle Island Restoration Network is an international marine conservation organization headquartered in California, which works to protect sea turtles and marine biodiversity around the world. For more information, visit www.SeaTurtles.org

(San José, Costa Rica – 12 de junio, 2009).
A study by the University of Costa Rica’s (UCR) Center for Marine Research (CIMAR) supporting the operation of tuna farms in Costa Rica’s south Pacific, was the reason why the Ministry of Environment and Telecommunications (MINAET) once again approved the project, according to the Minister himself, Jorge Rodríguez.

Rodríguez gave his statement during a Press Conference in Costa Rica’s Congress last June 11, which was called to announce that the country had cancelled its debt with the International Whale Commission, and was now better suited to lead global processes to protect these species.  When asked if the operation of tuna farms could threaten populations of whales and dolphins that live and breed in Costa Rican waters, the Minister expressed his concern, but justified MINAET´s decision on CIMAR’s study.

Video of Minister Rodríguez

“We have read CIMAR´s study on tuna farms thoroughly, and no matter how hard we try, we can’t find anywhere that it approves the tuna farms”, said a doubtful Randall Arauz, President of the Costa Rican organization PRETOMA.  “Actually, CIMAR’s study indicates that a previous long term exhaustive study must be held regarding the currents and effects that the generation of tons of metabolic wastes could have on the delicate ecosystem of the Golfo Dulce”.

CIMAR report on Tuna Farms

In March of 2007, the Constitutional Court had suspended the execution of the Tuna Farm project, due to the uncertainties surrounding the destiny of the metabolic wastes and the possible effect on the Golfo Dulce.  Furthermore, the Court ordered that the suspension could not be lifted, until scientific studies were held that cleared the doubt.

“Up to this day, no studies exist regarding the currents, thus the mandate of the Constitutional Court has not been abided by”, said Andy Bystrom, Director of Communications of PRETOMA.  “It is very important that CIMAR publicly state its position, the future of the Golfo Dulce depends on it”.

For more information:
Pretoma
info@pretoma.org
Tel (506) 2241 5227

Pretoma is a Costa Rican Civil Association of Public Interest, and is an active member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).

(San José, Costa Rica -  May 28, 2009)- The Costa Rican organization Pretoma delivered a letter today to President Oscar Arias which was signed by 704 citizens who participated in Costa Rica’s first national rally to halt tuna farming on May 23-24 in Pavones, Puntarenas.  The letter calls on the President to revoke the Ministry of Environment’s (Minaet) decision to go ahead with the tuna farm project, which had been suspended since May of 2007 by order of the Constitutional Court. According to the letter, the Ministry of the Environment is not abiding by the court ruling that suspended the execution of tuna farms until technical certainty exists that can confirm that the Golfo Dulce, a tropical fjord, would not be affected by the massive amounts of metabolic wastes produced by the tuna.

Local residents line-up to sign a petition against tuna farming

The two day event was staged in a remote area of the country (an 8 hour drive from San José), but the region’s aloofness did little to deter people from supporting the movement to stop tuna farming.  Artisanal fishermen, tourism operators, children, tourists, Guaymi indigenous citizens, and others came together to voice their concerns over the unbridled exploitation of the area’s natural resources.

“What a phenomenal event”, said Jonnie Haas, Pavones resident and event organizer, “the thing I remember most is the children all gathered around the table to carefully sign the petition and watch the tuna farming video”.  He went on to mention that this event is only the beginning of the community’s grass roots movement to stop the tuna farms.

The area’s two unequivocal economic strengths are fishing and tourism, both fed by the natural beauty and bounty of the Golfo Dulce and its surrounding verdant hillsides.  Coincidently, both are threatened by burgeoning concerns regarding Minaet’s decision to approve an international project to unsustainably strip the area of its natural resources, solely for the harvesting of tuna.  The project is slated to have a life span of 8 years, during which time the company, Granjas Atuneras de Golfito S.A., plans to earn 20 million dollars per year, only to skip town when natural tuna stocks become depleted and pollution concerns pose a risk to profits.

Perhaps the greatest part of the weekend was how people from all walks of like came together for a common cause. Guaymi, one of Costa Rica’s indigenous Indian, walked for hours just to voice their support, and they did so shoulder to shoulder with local fishermen and sun burned surfers.

“I can’t believe this” mentioned one anonymous local observing the spectacle of children’s games, rubber boot races, and traditional dances, “you just don’t see things like this in Pavones”. And if the public gets their way, you won’t see tuna farms either.

Environmental Ministry Rejects Pretoma’s Appeal

(April 30, 2009 – San José, Costa Rica)

Costa Rica’s Environmental, Energy, and Telecommunications Ministry (Minaet) formally rejected Pretoma’s appeal that requested the minister reconsider Setena’s decision to approve Granjas Atuneras de Golfito S.A’s. tuna farm project (R-J-185-2009).  With this decision, Minaet has granted the project’s definitive environmental viability, thus laying ruin to the administrative process designed to duly evaluate the environmental impacts of projects such as this one.

The Golfo Dulce without tuna farms

Last February 16, Setena strengthened its support for the project by rejecting Pretoma’s original appeal.  The appeal was filed because in Pretoma’s view Setena’s ruling did not adhere to the Constitutional Court’s order in 2006 to more thoroughly investigate the project’s potential environmental impacts, including metabolic waste produced by the tuna in captivity, and whether or not the Golfo Dulce’s currents would sweep this waste into the gulf, which could cause serious impacts to the fragile ecosystem.

To make matters worse, neither Minaet nor Setena acknowledges the project’s possible impacts to sea turtle populations that nest on beaches in and around Punta Banco (the would-be site of the tuna cages).

“We don’t agree with Minaet’s final decision because the inconsistencies that led to the Constitutional Court’s suspension of the project have yet to be resolved”, said Andy Bystrom from Pretoma. “Because of Minaet’s conscious decision to dismantle the administrative process to please the initiatives of an international corporation, we will now pursue other options designed to halt bullish projects such as this one.”

Pretoma is not the only entity with serious reservations towards the project. The overwhelming majority of local residents are fearful of the tuna farm’s potential impacts on the Golfo Dulce. In the event that the tuna waste is carried into the gulf, levels of organic contamination would increase causing damage to the areas two largest sources of employment: sustainable artisanal fishing and ecological tourism.

“This disappointing news comes as no surprise, as the political decision to allow the development of the project despite its environmental concerns was taken since 2004”, said a frustrated Randall Arauz, Pretoma’s President.  “It’s clear that community members, among with artisanal and sports fishermen, and ecotourism operators, fear that the tuna farm project will adversely affect their way of life”, he added.

Community members of the Golfo Dulce have organized an event this coming May 23-24 in Pavones, called “Let’s Save the Golfo Dulce”.  DON’T MIISS IT, and say NO to the Tuna Farms.

(May 6, 2009 – San José, Costa Rica)

The US Department of State`s Bureau of Oceans, Environment, and Science imposed a trade embargo on all Costa Rican shrimp exports to the US, effective as of May 1.  The embargo is due to Costa Rica’s failure to enforce its laws that require commercial shrimp fishers to protect sea turtles from capture and death in trawl nets by using Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs).

According to a report issued by the State Department, the decision to embargo Costa Rica was the result of a multi-year investigation that involved certification visits and data compiled from credible third-party sources. The evidence points out how Costa Rica’s Fishery Institute (Incopesca), didn’t “provide sanctions for TED violations that served as an effective deterrent against the failure to use TEDs”.

Green sea turtle killed by shrimp trawl

“Incopesca has been extremely negligent”, denounced Andy Bystrom of Pretoma, a Costa Rican NGO that has worked on TED issues since 1997.   “In meetings with the State Department in December 2008, Incopesca was warned that Costa Rica`s shrimp could be embargoed, to which the officers responded that they would resolve the problem in early 2009, but they haven’t done a thing”.

Costa Rica was the only country whose shrimp was embargoed by the US.  The 15 nations that retain their hold on the US shrimp market are: Belize, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Madagascar, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Suriname, and Venezuela.

“This is Costa Rica`s 4th shrimp embargo since 1999, which comes to prove that a long term official policy has been to ignore domestic TED regulations and allow the needles massacre of thousands of sea turtles, drowned by industrial shrimp trawlers”, said Randall Arauz, President of Pretoma.  “Our concern now is the rest of the Central American countries where shrimp trawling occurs, as TED regulations are not strictly enforced anywhere in the region”.

“Shrimp fishers non-compliance with TED laws is a chronic problem occurring throughout the world”, said Todd Steiner, executive director of Turtle Island Restoration Network, in Forest Knolls, CA (www.seaturtles.org).

TIRN is also in negotiations with the U. S. government after submitting a 60-day notice of intent to sue the US Department of State for its failure to create a meaningful and transparent process of evaluating nations to ensure proper protection of sea turtles in shrimp fishing under Public Law 101-162 section 609 of the U. S. Endangered Species Act. This provision requires nations exporting shrimp to the US to use comparable technology to ensure sea turtles do not drown in shrimp nets.

Video of shrimp trawls and sea turtles in Costa Rica

Exports to the United States Jeopardized

(San José, Costa Rica – April 22, 2009)–The Costa Rican organization Pretoma is requesting that the United States government deny sea turtle protection certification to Costa Rica’s shrimp trawl fleet and implement an embargo on all Costa Rican shrimp exports.  A letter requesting an embargo was submitted on April 13 to the State Department in Washington, D.C. and is based on Law 169-102, section 609, which states that foreign fishing countries desiring access to the U.S. market must practice a comparable standard of sea turtle protection as done in the United States, something Costa Rica does not do.

Diagram of a TED inside a shrimp trawl net

The law, enforced since May 1, 1996, allows the U.S. to impose an embargo on the exportation of shrimp from countries whose shrimp trawl fleets do not use the Turtle Excluder Device (TED), a simple apparatus that allows sea turtles to escape from trawl nets without effecting the operation’s profitability. Costa Rica has suffered three trade embargoes since 1999, the last one in May of 2006, after the industry lost access to the United States’ lucrative market for one year.

In the letter, Pretoma details an analysis of the procedures utilized for the sanctioning of shrimp trawl vessels that do not use TEDs, and points out how Incopesca, Costa Rica’s fishing regulations entity, has demonstrated time and again its inability to make shrimpers trawlers comply with national legislation that mandates their use.

Over the last five years, 29 shrimp trawls have been caught red handed either fishing without TEDs, using tampered TEDs, or with other serious technical problems that compromise their effectiveness to free turtles, this according to information obtained through Incopesca and the Coast Guard National Service (SNG). In addition, over this same time several boats have been caught twice without their TEDs.  None of the aforementioned cases has resulted in a sanction of any kind and all boats have been permitted to continue operating.

“The national shrimp trawl industry doesn’t only ignore TED legislation, it also flagrantly violates legislation that prohibits fishing in marine protected areas”, denounced Randall Arauz, Pretoma’s president.  He went on to denounce “without a national entity willing to enforce the country’s sea turtle protection laws, we’re left with no choice but to turn to nations that do”, meaning the United States.

A shrimp trawl operating in Costa Rica

Pretoma concludes that Costa Rica does not implement its sea turtle conservation laws, and consequently thousands of sea turtles drown in shrimp trawl nets each year.  Furthermore, the organization recommends that the U. S. State Department should impose a trade embargo on Costa Rican imported shrimp until fishing authorities demonstrate the political will to change this situation.

“Costa Rica has the option”, explained Todd Steiner, executive director for the TURTLE  ISLAND  RESTORATION  NETWORK (TIRN), “it can make the shrimp trawl industry adopt the best practices to save sea turtles, or it can loose the privilege to sell it’s shrimp to the United States”.

Additional information:

•    Costa Rica’s shrimp trawl fleet numbers 55 boats and captures 15,000 sea turtles per year, the majority of which die by forced immersion

•    90% of captured sea turtles are olive ridleys (Lepidochelys olivácea) and 10% are green turtles (Chelonia mydas)

•    TED use reduces turtle capture by 97% without effecting the amount of shrimp caught

•    The U.S. government must annually certify the shrimp trawl fleets of those countries wanting to export shrimp to the U.S. to ensure they properly use the TED

•    Costa Rican shrimp trawl fishermen have received TED use training on repeated occasions from USA government agencies, shrimp fishermen from Georgia (USA), and national NGOs.

For more information:

Pretoma
Tel (506) 2241 5227
Fax (506) 2236 6017
email: info@pretoma.org; andy@pretoma.org
website: www.pretoma.org

Scientists Initiate Studies on Endangered Green Turtle Migrations and Continue Monitoring Movements of Hammerhead Sharks

(April 1, 2009, San José, Costa Rica)—Marine scientists on a 10-day sea turtle and shark tagging expedition to Cocos Island National Park (March 20-30) successfully attached satellite transmitters to two endangered green turtles and acoustic transmitters to four hammerhead sharks.  This technology will allow the group to monitor the turtle’s exact movements anywhere these animals choose to swim and/or nest in the entire Pacific, as well as record the shark’s behavioral patterns as they congregate around Cocos Island and other islands of the Eastern Tropical Pacific.

A female juvenile green turtle with satellite transmitter

The expedition was composed of scientists from Pretoma (Costa Rica), Turtle Island Restoration Network (United States), and assisted by researchers and scuba diving experts from the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, USA, and Australia.  In addition to the tagging, the group downloaded tracking information stored on four receivers that were deployed around the island during previous hammerhead shark tagging expeditions.

“This data is critical if we want to better understand these animals’ movements inside the National Park’s boundaries, as well as their movements during their long migrations throughout the Pacific”, commented Randall Arauz, President of Pretoma and the expedition’s scientific director.  “Previously tagged hammerheads have been recorded traveling up to 700 km between Cocos Island and the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador in just 14 days, showing that their movements are directional”, informed Arauz.  According to the scientist, movements have also been confirmed between Cocos Island and Malpelo Island, Colombia.

Hammerhead shark populations have been decimated over the last 30 years through overfishing spurred on by the Asian shark fin soup market.  Estimates place the animals’ destruction between 70-90% over the last 30 years.  While marine fauna in the waters surrounding Cocos Island benefit from a no-fishing policy that extends 12 nautical miles, the area is not immune to illegal fishing practices.  “Unfortunately fishing still occurs within the Park’s boundaries, despite the hard work of Park Rangers, Coast Guard officers, and NGO park partners which provide patrol boats,” said Arauz.  He noted that a silky shark outfitted with a satellite transmitter in June 2008, headed directly to Puntarenas after only three weeks, with the last signals broadcasting from inside a fishing neighborhood.

A green turtle male with satellite transmitter

The two turtles outfitted with satellite transmitters are the first turtles to be tagged at Cocos Island National Park and included an adult male and a juvenile female.  “Right now we don’t know where these turtles nest or how they use the Cocos Island habitat,” commented Todd Steiner, biologist and executive director of Turtle Island Restoration Network, an international ocean protection organization headquartered in California.  He went on to mention that the team’s research will be crucial in designing better recovery and management plans for these amazing endangered species, especially juvenile green turtles, which to his knowledge have never been outfitted with a satellite transmitter before.  “However, better management and recovery plans for these endangered species aren’t enough”, warned Steiner, “we also need the political will of the Costa Rican government to enforce the Park’s no-fishing boundaries, and duly prosecute these law breakers.”

Cocos Island National Park, located 550 km off Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, was declared a National Park in 1978 and was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997.  In 2002, the World Heritage Site designation was extended to include an expanded marine zone with a no-fishing policy extending 12 nautical miles around the island.  The underwater world of the national park has become famous due to the attraction it holds for divers, who rate it as one of the best places in the world to view large pelagic species such as sharks, sea turtles, rays, tunas and dolphins.

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Turtle Island Restoration Network is an international marine conservation organization headquartered in California which works to protect sea turtles and marine biodiversity around the world. For more information, visit www.seaturtles.org

March 12, 2009, San José, Costa Rica—Shark researchers from the Costa Rican organization Pretoma made a startling observation last week while studying bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) at the mouth of the Sirena River, in Corcovado National Park—specimens over 4 meters in length (12+ feet). The researcher’s long-line fishing gear, rigged to catch smaller pelagic sharks, proved inefficient in catching the larger coastal bull sharks.

“We didn’t expect to encounter sharks this size”, said Randall Arauz, the expedition’s Scientific Director.  “Many of the hooks and steel leaders were mangled, destroyed, or simply bitten off by the large animals, only one of which came close enough to our fishing vessel for us to take a glimpse of its amazing size, before it too broke free”, said an astonished Arauz.

An acoustic tag is placed on a juvenile bull shark. Mouth of the Sirena River

As part of the research, the team of scientists took a smaller boat into the Sirena River where they observed schools of juvenile bull sharks, swimming at seemingly random intervals up and down stream.  Using hand lines, and under the scrutiny of the local crocodiles, the researchers caught 5 sharks, all females measuring around 1 meter in length.  Acoustic tracking devices were fastened to 4 of the animal’s dorsal fins, and their movements will now be monitored via an acoustic receiver the team placed on a buoy they anchored in the river.  Hooks were removed prior to release using dehooking devices.

The bull shark is a coastal species, common in shallow waters.  Adults are found in muddy, murky waters near estuaries and river mouths where they hunt.  Bull sharks commonly venture deep into fresh water habitats.  Juveniles also inhabit river mouths, where they feed and seek protection from marine predators in the brackish waters.  They owe their name to their “bulky” body types.  In Spanish, the bull shark is commonly called the “muddy shark”, due to its foraging habits. They are classified as “Near Threatened” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

By learning more about the bull shark, researchers hope to strengthen the case for the expansion of marine protected areas along Costa Rica’s southern Pacific coast.  “Corcovado National Park only enjoys a 500 meter no take zone, which obviously isn’t enough to provide efficient protection for bull sharks”, said a worried Allan Bolaños, a Pretoma fisheries observer.  “Our preliminary results show that these waters are essential habitat for a number of shark species, not just bull sharks”, concluded Bolaños.

During the 4 day expedition (26 February-1 March), scientists observed 13 sharks of 3 different species, including nurse sharks (Ginglymostoma cirratum) and black tip sharks (Carcharhinus limbatus).  All sharks caught were measured, sexed, and a tissue sample was taken for DNA analysis.  Curiously, all specimens were female.

A next expedition is planned for May, 2009, and the researchers will be better equipped to catch, handle and tag, the large adults.  More acoustic receivers will also be deployed in the surrounding waters to track the animals for further distances.

The Bull Shark Tagging Project is funded by the Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN), the BBC Wildlife Fund, and Pretoma’s Corporate Membership.  To learn more about Pretoma’s Corporate Membership, which allows businesses to partner with the organization and work towards the common goal of conserving Costa Rica’s marine resources, visit our website at www.pretoma.org or contact Andy Bystrom at andy@pretoma.org.

COSTA RICA LEADS CALL AT THE UNITED NATIONS TO INCREASE PROTECTION FOR SHARKS

Shark Coalition Logo

(San Jose, Costa Rica – March 9, 2009) – Members of the Shark Coalition, represented by experts of the Humane Society International (HSI), participated in a meeting of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Committee on Fisheries (COFI) last week (March 2-6) in Rome, Italy, where Costa Rica led the call for a global “fins-attached” shark conservation strategy.  Joined by 10 other Latin American countries, Costa Rica formally requested a U.N. workshop to address the barbaric and wasteful practice of shark finning.

Each year, around the world, tens of millions of sharks are hauled up on deck, where their fins and tails are sliced off and the (often still-living) sharks are then thrown back overboard to die a lingering and painful death.  The reason for this shameful waste is the demand for shark fin soup.  The effect has been the devastation of shark populations worldwide. Some shark populations have declined by more than 90 percent in the past 20 years. Some may never recover.

“Costa Rica has got it right”, says Patricia Forkan, president of Humane Society International, which has worked extensively on the issue of shark finning. “The Costa Rican proposal promotes the idea that sharks should be landed with fins partially or wholly attached to the carcasses, a practice that is required by law in Costa Rica and is the most simple and sure way to prevent shark finning.”

The FAO was the first multilateral body to address the problem of shark finning.  However, the agreement that suggests a prohibition on finning is voluntary and open to interpretation, with the result that the FAO has achieved little in the way of shark protection to date.  Sharks are in serious trouble.  Strong finning bans combined with limits or bans on shark fishing must be implemented fully around the world to curb the rapid decline of shark populations.

“Due to the highly migratory nature of sharks, the regulation must be regional and global to be effective”, informed Randall Arauz, Coordinator of the Shark Coalition and President of the Costa Rican organization PRETOMA.  “A U.N. workshop addressing the issue could help promote this policy in the European Union and in Regional Fisheries Management Organizations where shark finning is an issue”, said Arauz with optimism.

Facts:

•    Recent studies in the Northwest Atlantic have shown steep declines in shark populations, particularly among highly migratory species.  Since 1986, hammerheads have declined by 89 percent, thresher sharks by 80 percent, white sharks by 79 percent and tiger sharks by 65 percent.  All recorded shark species in the region, with one exception, have declined by more than 50 percent in the past eight to 15 years.  It is highly likely that similar results will be seen across the world’s oceans.

•    In the Costa Rican Exclusive Economic Zone, shark relative abundance declined 60% from 1991 to 2001.

•    Reported global trade in shark fins increased from 3,011 metric tons in 1980 to 11,732 metric tons in 2000.  Much of the trade is unreported because many fins do not pass through normal landing channels and because most of the fin trade is conducted in cash to avoid tax and duties.

•    Research in Hong Kong found that dried fins sold for as much as $744 per kilogram in 2002.  In 2003 dried shark fins in China retailed for $200 – 300 (per kilogram).

•    Shark fin soup can cost up to $150 per serving in Hong Kong, but there are worrying signs of a new market opening up for lower-quality fins, allowing millions more people to buy products such as shark fin sushi, shark fin cookies, shark fin cat food and canned shark fin soup.

•    Shark fin consists of collagen fiber and has no taste.  Flavor is added to the soup by the addition of chicken or fish stock.

•    Unlike other fish, sharks take many years to mature, they have long gestation periods and they give birth to live young – or they lay eggs – in very small numbers. In some cases of severe overfishing, recovery of the stock, if possible at all, will take decades.  The ”boom and bust“ pattern of shark fisheries has been repeated all over the world wherever sharks have been targeted.

The Shark Coalition is a network of 12 non-governmental organizations of the United States and Latin America, that works to protect global shark populations (www.coaliciontiburones.org).

For more information:

Andy Bystrom
Director de Comunicaciones
Pretoma
andy@pretoma.org
(506) 2241 5227

Miguel Gómez
Coalición Tiburones
miguel@pretoma.org

TUNA FARM’S FATE NOW IN MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT’S HANDS

SETENA Approves Project Without Complying with Constitutional Court’s Request to Clarify Environmental Impact Study

Picture: Mouth of the Golfo Dulce

(March 2, 2009 San José, Costa Rica) – On February 16 the National Technical Environmental Secretary (SETENA) rejected an appeal for annulment presented by Pretoma on November 11, 2008, deciding instead to move forward in the approval process of the Tuna Farm Project in Golfito, according to resolution N° 3170-2008-SETENA, November 5, 2008. SETENA’s decision to approve the project comes without completing the Constitutional Court’s order to clear up inconsistencies found within the Environmental Impact Study (EIA) undertaken by the project’s Developer Granjas Atuneras Golfito S.A. and now places the decision to ratify the project with Mr. Roberto Dobles, the Environmental, Energy, and Telecomunications Minister (MINAET).

In July, 2006 Pretoma and the Punta Banco Association of Neighbors filed suit against the project, sighting the serious environmental impacts it might cause. What is still unknown is whether or not the large amounts of metabolic waste, produced by the tuna and dispersed by the currents, will be swept into the Golfo Dulce. These uncertainties, along with questions about the possible effects the project will have on sea turtles that nest along beaches close to the proposed project’s site, represent some of the study’s weaknesses of which the Constitutional Court has asked for clarification in the form of technical studies.

“It’s incoherent how SETENA chooses not to address the Constitutional Court’s doubts, while at the same time recognizing the project’s viability without even researching certain technical criteria that might show how the tuna cages will impact the Golfo Dulce”, mentioned Miguel Gómez, Pretoma’s political campaigns coordinator.

“We hope that the Minister is consistent with other court decisions in this case and asks SETENA to comply with the Constitutional Court’s mandate”, said Andy Bystrom, Pretoma’s communications coordinator.

The project proposes to install 10 tuna cages at the mouth of the Golfo Dulce. It was suspended by court order on May 9, 2007 due to a series of inconsistencies referring to contamination threats to the surrounding ecosystem and its impact on sea turtles.

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Pretoma is a Costa Rican civil association of public interest, and is an active member of the international Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).