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Photo: Scalloped Hammerhead Shark

Hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewini) are very close to being listed under Appendix II of CITES during the Conference of the Parties (CoP 15), held in Doha, Qatar.  Even though the proposal submitted by the United States and Palau Islands to regulate the international commerce of hammerhead shark products enjoyed the support of the majority of the Parties (75 in favor, 45 against, 14 abstentions), it was not enough to reach the mandatory 2/3 majority.

Many Latin American countries supported the proposal, such as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Honduras, as well as other countries from the rest of the world, such as the European Union, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia and Australia, among others.  Unfortunately, an opposing minority, led by China and Japan, the former being the main global shark fin consuming nation and the later the greatest opponent to the protection of any species under this convention, successfully blocked the proposal.  Among the opposing parties in Latin America outstand Guatemala and Venezuela, while Mexico abstained.  Other opposing countries include Indonesia, Senegal, and Singapur.

Fortunately, there may still be hope for the hammerhead shark.  The possibility exists that the vote may be opened again during the Plenary Session of the Convention during the morning of Thursday, March 25.  Since it was such a close vote, a change of position of only a few countries could make the difference.  Thus, we call on the countries that voted against the proposal, like Guatemala, or Mexico that abstained, to reconsider their position and vote “YES”, so that hammerhead sharks may receive the international protection they deserve.

On January 18 multiple conservation NGOs got together and placed a paid advertisement in La Nación, Costa Rica’s largest newspaper that detailed the imminent problems the country faces when it comes to protecting its marine resources and how the Costa Rican Fisheries and Aquaculture Institute’s (Incopesca) board of managers caters to private interests because it is composed of members of the fishing sector.  Six weeks later the fishing sector responded with its own paid advertisement.  Now Pretoma’s president Randall Arauz has responded with a personal letter to the editor, published on March 22.

An Urgent Reform

We, national environmental NGOs, declare that the root of many of the problems we find in marine conservation, like the slaughter of turtles by the shrimp trawl fleet, the illegal use of private docks by the international fishing fleet, illegal fishing around Cocos Island, is attributed to the conflict of interest that exists in the heart of Incopesca’s board of managers, an entity that’s composed of businessmen from the industrial fishing sector.

In response to our paid advertisement on January 18^th, the “fishing sector” published their own paid advertisement on February 25^th, claiming that we lie and are really enemies of Costa Rica.

It’s curious that now this sector does not except the data that Pretoma has collected on the environmental impact of the national shrimp fleet and how it calls these studies “manipulated”.  From 1995 to 2005, Pretoma undertook three studies on-board national trawls, in projects in cooperation with Incopesca, the Puntarenas’ Fishermen’s Union (CPP), and the Independent Shrimp Fishermen’s Union (Unipesca), financed at the time by national (Conicit and Micit) and international (USAid and NFWF) entities.

The “fishing sector” continues to affirm that the protection the shrimp trawl fleet provides to sea turtles constitutes a model for Latin America; however, the USA has embargoed the exportation of shrimp from Costa Rica four times since 1999.

It also affirms how it, along with environmental groups and the FAO, support the correct way to manage the use of shark resources in Costa Rica.  What they fail to say is how conservation entities support the system that requires sharks to be landed with their “fins naturally attached”, a system that Incopesca firmly opposed and it was necessary for the State Attorney to intervene on three separate occasions in order for its implementation.

If it was for Incopesca, Costa Rica would still be running around “tying” shark fins onto bodies and looking ridiculous in the process.

Speaking about the creation of Responsibly Fished Marine Areas and the intention to create one of these in the Golfo Dulce where the shrimping sector agrees not to trawl, what the fishing sector does not say is how it bought the political will through a payment of one million dollars to the owners of the 57 shrimp fishing licenses – despite there being only four boats that operate in the Golfo Dulce – as compensation to no longer fish there.  But as these are private funds, Incopesca’s board of managers denies any ties in this negotiation.

In 2008 only one foreign tuna boat was captured fishing illegally at Cocos Island, but a Minae, Coast Guard, and Marviva report notes that 905 national boats were sited illegally fishing during this same period, along with the confiscation of 217 fishing gear set-ups.

The good thing about the paid advertisement is that it strengthens our position because it clearly exposes that the “fishing sector” and Incopesca’s board of managers are one and the same.  Only by eliminating this conflict of interest will we arrive at real marine conservation.

Click here to read – Crontollership Court criticizes Minaet for poor of The Leatherback National Park (Spanish version only)

Article publish on Friday 5, 2010 by La Nación, a major newpaper in Costa Rica.

(March 8, 2010 – San José, Costa Rica).

The Comptrollership Court of Costa Rica criticized the poor performance of the Ministry of Environment (MINAET), regarding the process to consolidate Las Baulas National Park, through a report issue last February 26 (DFOE-PGAA-IF-3-2010).  For the Comptrollership, this matter is of great importance, due to the importance of this National Park, created to protect the most important remaining nesting site for leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) in the Eastern Pacific.

The report points out strong weaknesses in the geographic delimitation of the Park’s boundaries, as well as inconsistencies in the expropriation process of the lands, specifically the appraisal, where in a brief period of 11 months, prices were raised up to 6,037%.  It also criticizes the fact that MINAET didn’t’ even react to this variation in prices, even though the State must assume the cost.  The Comptrollership warns that the project to reduce the Park’s limits will not solve the problem nor the threats to the leatherbacks, and would translate into irreversible environmental damage.

The Minister of Environment, Jorge Rodríguez, dismissed the criticism, and announce that he already filed a request to revoke the orders of the report.

“Although the position of the Minister of Environment is very disappointing, we aren’t surprised”, said Randall Arauz, of Pretoma, a Costa Rican NGO that defends the process to consolidate Las Baulas National Park.  “In spite of the orders of the Constitutional Court, the General Attorney and now the Comptrollership, as well as the opinion of the Defender of the Inhabitants, tens of thousands of Costa Rican, and the main national and international conservation NGOs, the heads of the Presidency and the MINAET insist in favoring the private interest and promoting the urban development of Las Baulas National Park.

(March 18, 2010 – San José, Costa Rica)

Las March 4, the Ministry of Environment of Costa Rica announced during a press conference that the country would support a proposal to list hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewini) under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).  The proposal, which would allow for controls over the international trade of products from this species, including its fins, will be voted during the Fifteenth Conference of the Parties (CoP15), to be celebrated in Doha, Qatar, from March 13-25 of the current year.

“I would like to congratulate the authorities of the MINAET and of Foreign Affairs, for the leadership our country has shown in different international forums in favor of the protection and management of sharks”, said Randall Arauz, President of Pretoma.  Arauz used the event to personally present the Minister of Environment Jorge Rodríguez, with a compilation of more than 2000 signatures of Costa Rican citizens supporting the protection of hammerhead sharks in CITES, as a result of the campaign “2000 Ticos for the Hammerhead Shark”.

“It is very encouraging to see the degree of commitment of the Costa Rican people with the global protection of shark”, said Minister Rodríguez, when he received the document.  “These signatures will travel to Qatar, and I will request that they be mentioned during the official interventions of Costa Rica on the matter”, affirmed the Minister.

MINAET also confirmed that Costa Rica will also support the oceanic white tip (Carcharhinus longimanus) proposal, common in region, as well as the porbeagle (Lamna nasus), the spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias), and the bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) proposals, which don’t occur in the region, but the country considers it is important to regulate their international commerce.

Prominent Sea Turtle Biologists Randall Arauz of Costa Rica and Dr. Wallace J. Nichols of Davenport, CA, Join Turtle Island Restoration Network Board

Olema, CA.  Turtle Island Restoration Network announced this week that Randall Arauz, director of the Costa Rican environmental organization PRETOMA, and Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, of Davenport, CA, have joined the organization’s board of directors.

Turtle Island Restoration Network is a nonprofit environmental organization that sponsors initiatives including the Sea Turtle Restoration Project, the Salmon Protection and Watershed Network and the Got Mercury Campaign.

“I am very happy to welcome Randall Arauz and Dr. Wallace J. Nichols to the Turtle Island board.   They are leaders in the worldwide efforts to study and protect sea turtles and other marine wildlife and their dedication and persistence is inspiring.  Our board and staff are excited to engage J. and Randall in our expanding organization and community,” said Todd Steiner, founder and executive director of Turtle Island and its initiatives.

Biologist and activist Randall Arauz was born in Los Angeles, California.  Raised by the seaside, he developed a passion for the ocean.  At the age of 10, he returned with his parents to their native home in Costa Rica where he developed a deep affinity with the marine natural history of the country.  After receiving a degree in Biology at the University of Costa Rica, he served as the first director of the Las Baulas National Park of Costa Rica, established to protect the region’s endangered leatherback turtles.

From a base in San Jose, Costa Rica, Arauz began leading Turtle Island’s efforts in Central America in 1994.  He worked with Turtle Island director Todd Steiner to establish the first nesting beach protection programs that engaged travelers in protecting sea turtles and provided local communities economic alternatives to egg harvesting.  Today, the program protects 70,000 sea turtle eggs each year at five critical nesting beaches in Costa Rica.

Advocacy for protections for sea turtles and other marine species was a natural outgrowth of the hands-on protection program.   In 1997, Randall founded PRETOMA (an acronym for “Sea Turtle Restoration Project” in Spanish), a non-governmental organization focused on protecting Costa Rica’s sea turtles, sharks, and other marine species and their coastal and ocean habitats through advocacy and grassroots campaigns.

In 2003, PRETOMA secretly captured footage of a Taiwanese fishing vessel landing 30 tons of hacked-off shark fins at a private dock in the Costa Rican port of Puntarenas.  Approximately 30,000 sharks were killed to fill the ship’s hull.  The footage horrified both Costa Ricans and the international community and helped galvanize PRETOMA’s campaign for better enforcement of the nation’s laws against shark finning.

Randall won the United Kingdom’s most presitigious international environmental award in 2004, the Whitley Fund For Nature Award, in recognition of the importance of his work.   He has served as a technical advisor to the Costa Rican Ministry of Natural Resources and Foreign Affairs at important forums such as the United Nations Law of the Sea, and the Convention for Migratory Species..  He currently serves in both the  the IUCN Shark Specialist Group and the IUCN Sea Turtle Specialist Group.

“Working with Turtle Island Restoration Network and Todd Steiner really enabled me to become an effective advocate for marine species, rather than just a biologist,” said Randall Arauz. “Todd Steiner has supported my work and helped me move Costa Rica towards upholding its environmental image.  I am pleased to join the board of Turtle Island and support this organization’s future.”

Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, known as “J”, has founded marine protection organizations including Grupo Tortuguero, dedicated to restoring Pacific sea turtles, WILDCOAST to protect coastal wilderness and Ocean Revolution, working to inspire the next generation of ocean conservation leaders.  Recently, he co-founded SEEturtles.Org which engages people in conservation by helping them view sea turtles and other species in the wild.  J. holds a PhD from the University of Arizona, degrees from Duke and Depaugh Universities and was granted a Fulbright Fellowship.

Dr. Nichols also currently works with several universities and organizations to advance ocean protection, including California Academy of Sciences as a Research Associate.  His efforts have been featured in National Geographic, Scientific American, Time, Newsweek and other international media.

“I feel like I’ve undertaken the task of engaging communities of many different kinds in sea turtle and marine conservation.  Turtle Island’s work has been an inspiration to me and I look forward to being a part of the organization’s work to reach new communities and mobilize them as well,” says Dr. Nichols.  His work has taken him from coastal villages in Mexico where he works to demonstrate the value of saving sea turtles to artisanal fishermen, to Hollywood, where he worked with Leonardo DiCaprio on the environmental documentary, The 11th Hour.

Turtle Island Restoration Network is a tax-exempt organization with a mission to take swift and decisive action to protect and restore marine and aquatic species and their habitats, and to inspire people in communities all over the world to join us as active and vocal advocates.

The organization’s oldest and largest initiative, the Sea Turtle Restoration Project (www.seaturtles.org), was founded in 1989 to protect sea turtles and their ocean habitat globally.  The Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (www.spawnusa.org), founded in 1997, protects California’s largest remaining run of wild, endangered coho salmon in the Lagunitas Creek Watershed.  The organization’s Got Mercury Campaign (www.gotmercury.org), founded in 2002, informs people about the personal impacts of ocean pollution, and mercury in seafood in particular.  Turtle Island has received the highest four-star rating for financial effectiveness for five years in a row from CharityNavigator.Com.

Last Wednesday February 17, over 100 activists sang “Happy Birthday” to the Judges of Costa Rica’s Supreme Court of Justice, to celebrate the 3rd year of waiting for a resolution that could finally put an end to shark finning in Costa Rica.

Since January of 2006, the Constitutional Court of the Supreme Court of Justice, ruled in favor of a Constitutional Lawsuit filed by Pretoma (04-001511-0007-CO), in which the use of public infrastructure is ordered for the landing of fishery products by the foreign shark finning fleet. In February of 2007, a year later, Pretoma filed a contempt suit against the Ministry of Public Transportations, Incopesca, Customs, and Ministry of Environment, because the authorities had ignored the orders of the Constitutional Court. Three years later, the Costa Rican people are still waiting for a resolution, while the foreign fleet continues to carelessly land sharks and fins in the privacy of their docks.

“With this event, the citizens want to remind the Judges that we are still waiting for a resolution on our law suit, because as long as the private docks in Puntarenas continue breaking the law, there will be shark finning in Costa Rica”, warned Randall Arauz, President of Pretoma. “Three years waiting for a resolution is just too much, and sharks can no longer take the indiscriminate fishing pressure they are under, with the blessing of our authorities”, complained Arauz.

As of now, the Costa Rican Congress (Expediente 18.890), the Comptrollership (DFOE-PGA-86/2006) and the Defender of the Inhabitants (Boletin 2, Dic 2006), have seconded the order of the Supreme Court of Justice, but the defendants continue to defend the interests of the foreign owners of the private docks in Puntarenas. In an effort to legitimize their actions, the defendants have issued resolutions that have been shot down over and over again by the Courts. Now, the defendants rely on the “Rules to authorize the landing of fishery products by national and foreign vessels (A.J.D.I.P /042-2009), which allows the use of private docks by foreign fleets if the foreign owners allow access to public functionaries. However, under this scenario, it is impossible to defend the public interest, because it is impossible to abide by public administration laws as private property is protected by the Constitution. Pretoma filed yet another constitutional lawsuit against the new rules, and is waiting for a resolution.

Watch the video from the Leatherback Survival Concert, an initiative to save the leatherback sea turtle and  Costa Rica’s National Parks on December 14 in San José.

Illegal Hawksbill Sea Turtle Jewelry Confiscated at Christmas Fair

Officials from the Ministry of the Environment and Telecommunications (MINAET), along with representatives from Costa Rican NGOs Pretoma, the Caribbean Conservation Corporation, and Widecast, confiscated illegal jewelry made from endangered hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) shells for sale at the Christmas festival in Guadalupe.  MINAET officials in street clothes and NGO members walked through the various temporary craft shops that line the barrio’s central park this holiday season, confirming that hawksbill rings and bracelets were for sale.  After the shops were pinpointed, uniformed officials moved in and confiscated over 300 illegal hawksbill rings and several bracelets.  A judge will rule on the individual cases and the jewelry will more than likely be destroyed. Watch the video.

Forum of Experts Discuss Bill to Demote Leatherback National Park

A panel of six experts convened at the University of Costa Rica in front of an audience of over 70 students, conservationists, and academics, to present their different points of view regarding development and conservation issues that surround the future of Las Baulas National Park in Guanacaste.  Passionate arguments were offered for and against bill 17.383 which proposes to demote the park to a Wildlife Refuge.  Also in attendance were local community members whose future will be affected one way or another from the outcome.  While nothing was decided, it became clear that a greater dialogue was needed between long term property owners, investors, neighboring communities, grass roots organizations, national conservation organizations, and government officers to save the leatherback sea turtles of Las Baulas.

Members at the main table were (left to right):
Randal Arauz (Pretoma); Didiher Chacon (Widecast); Laura Jaen (Association of Local Guides of Matapalo); Mario Arias (University of Costa Rica); Vianney Saborio (Lawyer for property owners); Manfred Marshall (local property owner).

Pretoma denounces shrimp trawler for invading the waters of the Caletas Ario National Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica

On December 2nd, members of Pretoma appeared at an Oral and Private Hearing before Incopesca’s Direction of Judicial Fisheries Procedures, to refer to a suit filed by them against the shrimp trawler “Luis Guillermo”, which was caught on video operating illegally in the protected waters of the Caletas-Ario National Wildlife Refuge, during the night of last April 17, 2009 (watch video).  Prior to the hearing, the defense lawyer’s request for the process be “definitely revoked”, was duly rejected.  A final resolution by the Direction is expected during the next few months.  Read submitted law suit (Spanish only).

Artisanal fishing presidents voice their opinions on sustainable management of the Golfo Dulce

“As Presidents of the six small-scale artisanal fishing associations which gather 186 fishermen, we hereby state and emphasize that we support the creation of the Marine Area for Responsible Fishing and we request an explanation and a clarification of the false declarations published in this magazine on November 27th 2009.

In regards with the information which has circulated after the press release disclosed by Pretoma and a group of commercial fishermen who do not practice artisan fishing activities, it is important to clarify that Mr. Victor Rocha in this opportunity acted on behalf of the Civic Front of Golfito’s Fishing Sector, group to which we do not belong since we are small-scale artisan fishermen.”
Read full press release

Costa Rica’s National University (UNA) has been forceful in expressing its firm rejection of bill 17.383 that would downgrade Leatherback National Park to a mixed wildlife refuge.

The document SCU-2165-2009, signed by the university’s board of directors and submitted to the Legislative Assembly, recomends the bill be rejected on the grounds that the proposed changes to the national park are not based on any scientific evidence.

(Article is only available in Spanish)