InTheBite

Greenstick Licenses Approved for Commercial and Charter Fleets in Costa Rica

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When it comes to fishing regulations, changes in Costa Rica are usually slow and deliberate. The government typically requires extensive technical and scientific support before it considers adding or changing fishing laws or agreements. The studies are also usually conducted in Costa Rica territorial waters.

Greenstick fishing or “palo verde” as it is known in Spanish is not a new technique. It has been used successfully for years in Japan and the United States in commercial and sport tuna fishing. The set-up of a tall single center outrigger trailing surface baits behind the boat’s stern is an effective way to harvest tuna without almost any bycatch.

Studies on local greenstick fishing were directed by fisheries biologist Moises Mug of FECOP (a Costa Rican sport fishing advocacy group), INCOPESCA, (the government agency in charge of fisheries) and INA, the technical learning institution that teaches different trades including preparing students to work in the fishing industry. The joint project to study greenstick fishing began in late 2016 with the purpose of offering an alternative method to capture tuna by the national fleet and reduce bycatch at the same time. Mug was appointed last month to head INCOPESCA by Costa Rica’s new president, Carlos Alvarado.

The required criteria was submitted to the government by FECOP in December 2017, approved this past March and recently published in the Government Gaceta, the official publication of Costa Rica’s Laws and Decrees. Commercially, only yellowfin tuna, bigeye tuna, skipjack tuna, swordfish and dorado (dolphinfish) can be harvested using the greenstick method and all other species must be released alive.

“The possibility is approved that, for a period of 12 months counted from the publication of this Agreement, any interested party that holds a longline fishing license, whether commercial or medium-scale commercial fishing, may request INCOPESCA to add it to their vessel the art of Green Stick; or completely change the traditional longline for the art called Green Stick. For this purpose, the interested parties must comply with all the requirements established by INCOPESCA for this purpose,” the agreement states.

“These boats will be authorized to carry up to six lures with lines attached to the rod and reel or winch. In no case shall INCOPESCA allow a boat that uses the Green Stick to carry and use other fishing gear in the same boat, except for the traditional longline and the hand rod (rod and reel).

“In cases in which INCOPESCA serves as certifier that the catches have been made using the Green Stick art on a vessel that also has traditional fishing gear, the Institute should require that the vessel carry an observer on board or a technological device that guarantees the traceability of the product. In this case, when the longline vessel has an observer on board, catches of non-target species made with Green Stick, should be released alive in the best possible condition.”

Recreational fishing in Costa Rica is divided into two categories: sport-fishing and tourist fishing for those that hire for charter. The new agreement allows boats with tourist fishing licenses to fish green sticks but not boats with regular sport-fishing licenses. The charter boats are allowed to pull three lures at a time attached to rod and reel. No type of winch is allowed.

Changes to better protect Costa Rica’s marine resources are slow coming and this one regulating greenstick fishing will need to be fine-tuned. But the country also recently joined Global Fishing Watch to combat illegal fishing and the equivalent of the Supreme Court upheld the ban on shrimp trawling for the second time, outlawing the practice. So FECOP and concerned citizens are hopeful the country continues in this positive direction.

For more information, contact: info@fecop.org

FECOP – Researching Pacific Tarpon in Costa Rica

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FECOP to Study Pacific Tarpon in Costa Rica

San Jose, Costa Rica-February 27, 2018- Twenty-seven years ago, Didiher Chacon was a young biologist from the National University in Costa Rica. Todd Staley, co-creator of 12 Fathom Jigs that forever changed tarpon fishing in Boca Grande, Florida, in the late 1980s, had just moved to Costa Rica to manage Archie Fields’ Rio Colorado Lodge, a world-famous tarpon destination. Chacon stopped by the lodge one day to explain he was collecting tarpon samples for analysis by Dr. Roy Crabtree in Florida. Staley, who was familiar with Crabtree’s work, jumped at the chance to catch a few tarpon and help science at the same time.

Chacon went on to become well respected in marine conservation circles. He is currently the director of the NGO, Latin American Sea Turtles, as well as a professor at the National University in the post-degree program. Staley moved to the Pacific side of Costa Rica after Archie Fields died and for two decades managed famous billfish destinations like Golfito Sailfish Ranch and Crocodile Bay. He began working full time for FECOP, a Costa Rica sport-fishing advocacy and conservation group, last May.

“I first saw a tarpon roll in the Pacific back in 1995,” Staley explains. “For a minute I thought I was losing my mind but then I thought, I have seen tarpon roll my whole life, I know one when I see one.” Eventually one of the charter captains returned to the dock one day with a 40-pound tarpon and had no idea what it was. Since then clients have hooked five to 10 tarpon a year, occasionally landing and releasing a few. The largest tarpon taken was estimated around 130 pounds. It has always been assumed that the tarpon, which are not indigenous to Pacific waters, passed through the Panama Canal and took up residence on the Pacific coast.

The puzzle got even more interesting when Saul Porras caught a baby tarpon while snook fishing at the mouth of a creek on the Osa Peninsula in southern Costa Rica. Chances that little guy passed through the canal and swam that far are extremely slim. So, are tarpon now breeding in the Pacific? They have been caught all along the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, especially in the southern zone. An increasing number have been taken in the Sierpe and Coto Rivers. Tarpon have also been have recorded as far south as Colombia and as far north as El Salvador.

FECOP agreed to sponsor a project to find out more about tarpon in the Pacific. Staley contacted Chacon (the two had remained friends over the years) and he agreed to work on the science part of the project. “The Sierpe Wetlands are perfect habitat for juvenile tarpon,” Chacon says. “That very well may account for the increase in numbers of tarpon caught there in the last few years.” Most of the river tarpon are small, less than 30 pounds, but some as large as 100 pounds have also been captured.

Tropical Storm Nate delayed the project when massive amounts of rain fell, which not only caused major landslides but also completely flushed everything out many of the coastal rivers.

Phase 1 of the project will concentrate in southern Costa Rica. A DNA comparison will be done between Pacific-caught tarpon and tarpon taken at various locations on the Caribbean side of the country. Biologists will also study what the Pacific tarpon have been feeding on. This can be accomplished with a small tissue sample without sacrificing the fish. All Pacific-caught tarpon will also be tagged.

Chacon notes that there is a possibility tarpon could change the ecology of the rivers over time. So far it is not yet known what these tarpon are feeding on or how they will affect native fish. But the ever-increasing encounters along Costa Rica’s Pacific coast make it worth finding out.

For more information contact: www.fishcostarica.org  or  info@fecop.org

 

 

Costa Rica FECOP- Letter To Editor

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FECOPIs Costa Rica on the edge of regaining the Sailfish Capital of the World Title?

Costa Rica is enjoying some of the best billfishing in years. Record catches have been recorded this year in both Los Suenos and Marina Pez Vela’s fishing tournaments as well as consistent double digit catches recorded daily by the charter fleets. Lucky enough to have two separate peak seasons, from December until May in Central and Southern Costa Rica, May until December in Northern Coast off Guanacaste, anglers in the north are preparing anxiously for this year’s numbers. The numbers of fish being caught is reminiscent to 20 years ago when Costa Rica was known as “The Sailfish Capital of the World.” But is this a double edge sword?

FECOP, (Federacion Costarricense de Pesca), is the sportfishing lobby group in Costa Rica. It was formed by a small group of anglers in 2008 that discovered that nearly 480,000 kilos of sailfish were being exported annually to the United States, most of it ending up in seafood restaurants as smoked fish spread. Consumers never really knew they were actually eating sailfish. FECOP successfully lobbied the government and the international exportation of sailfish from Costa Rica was stopped, although, it can still be sold on the national market.

With funding provided by donors and through tireless efforts of its first president Donald McGuinness, FECOP began to begin is list of major success by creating the largest marine area of responsible fishing in Central America in the Golfo Dulce. Nonselective arts of fishing, like shrimp trawling and gill netting, were prohibited and only sportfishing and small scale artisanal commercial fishing is allowed. FECOP has worked with these groups of gillnetters to teach them new ways to make a living, such as oysters, which now gives them a successful livelihood without the previous indiscriminate bycatch that has been impacting the waters of Costa Rica. FECOP also hosts children’s fishing tournaments in three locations along the coast every year, teaching the kids about responsible fishing and conserving the oceans for the future through educating our youth today.

Tuna-Fishing-Costa-RicaThe latest major achievement by FECOP was a project that took over two years to complete and involved a different approach to conservation in Costa Rica. It involved the sportfishing group working hand in hand with local longliners on a common goal after years of opposing each other. The process began by sitting at the same table, setting aside our differences, and discussing the problems caused by tuna purse seiners in the country. After tons of documented evidence, the groups lobbied the government in a combined effort and got the tuna boats pushed offshore. For around six months now, the tuna boats cannot work within 45 miles of the coast and other parcels of territorial waters became closed to purse seiners in an area that encloses 44% or over 200,000 square kilometers that are off limits to tuna boats.

It is still early to see the long term effect of this new law, but in short term the sailfish numbers being caught and released are phenomenal. One of the largest fish processers in the country has also reported that the commercial longline fleet is bringing in more tuna and a surprisingly large number of dorado (dolphinfish) to the dock for this time of year. Again, results that have been previously unseen due to the horrendous numbers of bycatch of dorado by tuna seiners.

The Conservation Wars

When the whole sportfishing community should have been celebrating the new tuna law together, The Billfish Foundation took a shot at FECOP with both barrels in a campaign to mislead the fishing community by labeling the FECOP group as “quasi-green environmentalists”. This started with a statement taken out of context made by FECOP’s ex-president McGuinness and current board member at an open forum.

At an open forum he made a statement that was his own personal opinion stating that there should be a conscious effort to review the number of fish allowed per boat on conventional tackle or the frequency with which certain locations are used for some back-to-back tournaments. A suggestion was made that after so many fish are landed, anglers be required to switch to fly tackle. The idea is that this will reduce the total number of fish landed while still producing a great sporting event. That personal statement was translated into a FECOP sponsored statement to proposed change in regulations, when in fact, the intentions were to open a dialog of discussion within the forum. Do to the reality that tournaments are good business and brings the fishing community together, the shots began.

Shooting ourselves in the Foot

It is the nature of humans, fishermen included, to boast. Whether the motive is to draw in more business or ego, people are screaming all over the internet about the fantastic fishing in Costa Rica for sailfish and marlin. Not only are potential clients watching, but also the people who would like to kill and sell those fish.

Almost all internet sites selling billfishing trips have recent “hero shots” with the sailfish being hauled onboard for a photo with the angler. This has been an illegal practice for six years now, but sportfishing crews in Costa Rica continue to pull sailfish from the water. I have found that if the angler is informed of the law and how leaving them in the water reduces stress and damage to the protective slime before fishing begins they are very understanding and willing to cooperate with the law.

Talks are continuing with the longline groups to help change some from longline fishing to “green sticks”, a selective art of catching tuna. With their increased landing of fish, it is time to negotiate changes to reduce the billfish bycatch that is affecting this great sport resource. This is easier done with a conservation group that has local access to the fishermen and the branches of the governmental with the power to bring about change. The sportfishing community needs to take part and be the leader by setting good examples on how we handle the fish that we want to continue to entertain us.

Conservation work has done marvelous things for deer, ducks, trout, billfish and many other species of fish and their habitat. The sad side of conservation is the lack of communication between the different groups. The politics of conservation and the business of conservation keeps scientists and groups competing for funding to keep to their own agenda and not share information with one another. If they could all work together, positive change could come about more rapidly.

Current FECOP President Alberto Laurencich explained who FECOP is. “We are made up of fishing Associations from Guanacaste, Quepos and Golfito, as well as two National Fishing Clubs. Our board members are made up of some of the best known captains in the country, marina owners, people who make a living sport fishing as well as recreational anglers. We want there to be fish to catch for many years to come. We are conservationists, not environmentalists.”

About the author. Todd Staley has been in Costa Rica nearly 25 years and is Director of Fishing at Crocodile Bay Resort. He is the co-recipient of IGFA’s 2015 Chester H. Wolfe award for his conservation efforts in Costa Rica, and sportfishing advisor to FECOP