As the government of Costa Rica seeks to expand marine protected areas to comply with international biodiversity targets, fishers are demanding that their voices be heard.
The fishing sectors (comprising artisanal fishing, longlining, purse-seining and tourist sport-fishing) have expressed concern about losing about 30,000 direct jobs if the country expands the coverage of maritime protected areas.
The Isla del Coco National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, would potentially be expanded to cover about a third of Costa Rican waters in the Pacific, in addition to an immense expansion of the Submarine Mountains Marine Management Area (in the Pacific Ocean territorial waters of Costa Rica). An announcement on these areas is expected in the coming days, during the celebration of the Bicentennial of Costa Rica’s independence from Spanish rule.
Fishers and other stakeholders have proposed more marine management areas and a recognition of existing fisheries management measures. According to Att. Germán Pochet, a lawyer specializing in environmental law, Executive Decree No. 38681-MAG-MINAE of October 9, 2014, establishes management measures for the use of tuna and related species in the exclusive economic zone of the Costa Rican Pacific Ocean. These were created in order to improve the management of fishery resources, within a framework of conservation and sustainable use in fisheries.
Despite the efforts made by fishers, the government has not carried out the necessary actions that would promote its full implementation.
The existing regulation creates a polygon in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), in which fishing with purse seines is excluded. These gears are allowed in the rest of the country’s EEZ, but the fishing vessels are required to land 100 per cent of their catch in Costa Rica, to be processed into canned tuna. This has made it possible to reduce the presence of foreign vessels by 88 per cent. It has also created space for domestic longline and sport fishing vessels to fish without interacting with purse-seine vessels.
“The expansion of the Submarine Mountains Marine Management Area will cover practically the entire oceanic polygon, which is the most important for longline fishing. The de facto elimination of the oceanic polygon not only nullifies Executive Decree No. 38681-MAG-MINAE, but also encourages the fishing intensity of all sectors towards coastal areas,” warned the specialist in fisheries and legal issues.
For the fishing sector, the only interest of the government is to comply, before the agreed time, with its political commitment to the UN Biodiversity Summit on September 30, which is scheduled to take place alongside the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. The “30×30” strategy seeks to protect 30 per cent of the planet’s land and sea areas by 2030, through the designation of protected areas.
“30×30 means that the countries pay with the protection of 30 per cent of their areas. However, Costa Rica has protected 46 per cent of its marine areas, through the Zoning Decree, MPAs and Marine Areas for Responsible Fishing. This is already more than 30 per cent. It turns out that the proposed goal is abusive, contrary to the Constitution and violates the principle of proportionality, ” explained Germán Pochet.
The proposal of the sector is to protect through responsible fisheries management, since those most interested in conservation of marine biodiversity are the fishers themselves.
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