Costa Rican Government Supports Sailfish Conservation
A Step in the Right Direction for Sailfish in Costa Rica If you’re expecting to come across sailfish meat in the Costa Rican Canasta Basica, then you’re unfortunately going to be disappointed. The Costa Rican government has denied the longline fisheries’ request to include sailfish meat among said list, a list which includes low-taxed food products common to a Costa Rican diet. This list, which is taxed at only 1% for the benefit of the consumer, has nearly 200 food and household items, of which the commonly seen seafood items can include mackerel filets, shark filets, tilapia
Costa Rica’s Tuna Reform Law – Billfish Impacts Uncertain
As reported recently in the Tico Times, a new Costa Rican tuna law requires all purse seine vessels (none of which are owned by Costa Rican interests) to fish outside of 80 miles from shore. Previously, a 2014 Presidential Decree required the vessels to fish outside 45 miles. This, the Times reported, “created an amazing recovery for sportfishing, except for sailfish” catches, which increased with the commercial longline fishery. Sailfish are very important to the nation’s sportfishing eco-tourism trade, once earning the nation the recognition of Sailfish Capital of the World, now held by Guatemala. Unfortunately, under current regulations, if
Sailfish Conservation Record 2019
The Billfish Foundation maintains the largest private tag and release database in the world, with over 260,000 records. In 2019 alone, over 11,000 new tag, release, and recapture records were added to this database, representing an enormous amount of data to help us learn more about billfish life history. Of these over 11,000 new records in 2019, 5,280 were of sailfish, including an incredible 34 sailfish recaptures. 73.6% of sailfish were released without tags, while 26.4% were tagged. To learn more about how to identify a sailfish, check out our youtube channel! An incredible 1,385 sailfish were tagged
AGREEMENT YIELDS LONGLINE CLOSURE FOR UPCOMING COSTA RICA FISHING TOURNAMENT
Puntarenas, Costa Rica: In a groundbreaking move and through a joint effort between The Billfish Foundation and the Presidential Challenge Charitable Foundation, commercial longlining will be closed in a 40-mile area during the upcoming Presidential Challenge of Costa Rica tournament, March 1-4, 2012. Herbert Nanne, the TBF Conservation Director for Central America successfully proposed through the National Sportfishing Commission, where he is a member, an agreement to close the waters off Carrillo, Costa Rica during the Presidential Challenge tournament to INCOPESCA, the Costa Rican Fisheries and Aquaculture Institute whose duties include management of the nation’s fisheries, both commercial
