Adventure Costa Rica Blog

If you love whale sharks, remember that it’s whale shark season on Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula, where every January, the enormous, omnivorous creatures gather for a plankton bloom. In one of the mouths of Térraba-Sierpe, at the end of January this year, there was a glad surprise: a new visitor who caused a sensation among residents and tourists. It was a nine-meter whale shark. This is the largest species between fish and it is difficult to observe. "The individual was found feeding near the surface. Their presence near the mouths of rivers is known worldwide and has been associated with large numbers of larvae of crustaceans, such as shrimp, "he said Keto in an official press release.

This is a great progress, showing Costa Rica right policy about this matter. In 2006, the private docks in the Pacific fishing hub of Puntarenas served as the clandestine headquarters for some of the world’s largest shark-finning operations. Today the docks are closed, and in 2013, Sharkproject gave out an award to another Costa Rican president, Laura Chinchilla. The organization called her “Shark Guardian of the Year.” “We are at the starting point for worldwide change against the finning industry,” said Gerhart Wegner, Sharkproject’s president. “This all began here, in Costa Rica.”President of Costa Rica , Laura Chinchilla, signed an executive order which further controls to download and marketing of sharks and rays in the Costa Rican docks are imposed. The decree seeks the protection of sharks and rays by prohibiting capture , possession , storage , transportation, marketing , processing , retention and landing board , in order to avoid overexploitation.

The decree specifies that vessels , to reach the port , can only download and sharks when market sizes are equal to or above certain established ranges. "The decree defines clearly for fishing on minimum size of species , prohibition of fishing for certain species and fishing ban manta rays , the latter has always been prohibited ," said Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Gloria Abraham , at a news conference . The resolution also prohibits the taking, possession , storage , transportation and marketing of the following stripes : manta ray ( Manta sp ) , stripe devil ( Mobula sp ) , stripe and whip ( Dasyatis longa ) plus white tip shark oceanic ( Carcharhinus longimanus ) . In a speech, President Chinchilla said his government has worked on the creation of more marine protected areas and the conservation of the species that live there. " He has recognized us creating a special management area on seamounts in Cocos Island , historic investments in everything that involves the fleet available to the National Guard for increased vigilance in our seas and alliances with non-governmental organizations , "said Chinchilla. EFE

Photos:  Francisco Ramos-Meyer, Martin Kalscheuer, Wayner Vásquez, Nat Geo