A new report has suggested that progress made in Costa Rica to protect its abundant shark and turtle populations has been reversed due to existing laws not being implemented.
In November, the Rescue Center for Threatened Maritime Species (Centro de Rescate de Especies Marinas Amenazadas – CREMA) published a report condemning a lack of action by the Costa Rica government that had left critically endangered turtles and sharks, especially the hammerhead shark, unprotected.
Two aspects of Costa Rica’s stance on protecting marine wildlife came in for particular criticism. Firstly, in 2018, the government presented two long-term action plans to protect sharks and other at-risk pelagic fish, such as tuna and swordfish. These were seen as ambitious, proposing to support and enhance sustainable fishing practices and working with longline fishing vessels to help reduce the number of sharks accidentally killed.
However, three years on, these plans have not been implemented, according to CREMA.
Read more:
https://insightcrime.org/news/costa-rica-sabotaging-own-efforts-to-protect-vulnerable-sharks/