Costa Rica Fishing – A bill now before the country’s congress would ban large-scale commercial fishing off Costa Rica’s southern Pacific Coast
The proposed marine reserve would protect much of Costa Rica’s southern coast from large-scale commercial fishing.
A bill that would create a marine reserve of nearly 1 million acres off the Osa Peninsula and southern Costa Rica coast is under consideration by Costa Rica’s congress, based on a report prepared by the Tropical Science Center. The bill — titled Reserva Marina Álvaro Ugalde Víquez in memory of Costa Rican conservationist Alvaro Ugalde Viquez — prohibits destructive, industrial-scale fishing practices, including longlines, bottom trawls and drift gillnets.
Artisinal fishing and — recognizing the important economic contribution made to the country’s economy by visiting anglers — sport fishing would be allowed. The reserve is intended to “protect the extraordinary marine and coastal resources of the southern Pacific coast,” resources threatened now by “indiscriminate and unsustainable commercial fishing.”
A period of public comment on the bill will continue through August. Comments may be emailed to Sra. Hannia Durán at [email protected].
From SportFishingMag
