10,000 hammerhead sharks needed to amass stockpile
July 19, 2017 – San Jose, Costa Rica
The Costa Rican Endangered Marine Species Rescue Center (CREMA) and the United States based organizations Fins Attached Marine Research and Conservation and Wild Over Wildlife have begun an on-line campaign and petition asking Costa Rica’s President Luis Guillermo Solís to stop the export of an 8 ton stockpile of hammerhead shark fins, amassed since March 1, 2015 when international shipments of the species’ fins from the country became illegal.
Click here to sign the petition
The Solís administration has bent to pressure exerted on it by private shark fishing and fin export interests and disregarded the technical critique from two scientific and governmental advisory councils (December 20, 2015 and April 5, 2017) both of which concluded that the international trade of hammerhead shark fins from Costa Rica is unsustainable and must not be allowed. Furthermore, the President recently issued an Executive Decree that gives the scientific decision making power on whether or not hammerhead shark fin exports should be allowed to the Costa Rican Fisheries Institute (INCOPESCA), an entity overtly controlled by the aforementioned private interests.
What has marine conservation NGOs immediately alarmed is not the possibility that INCOPESCA will authorize the international trade of hammerhead shark fins, but rather the fate of the 8 ton stockpile of fins that has been growing since the prohibition of their export two and a half years ago. Such a stockpile represents the slaughter of more than 10,000 hammerhead sharks! The conservationists are asking President Solís to permanently prohibit the stockpile’s export since it was amassed during the period pursuant to the current export ban.
“From a conservation standpoint, it makes no sense whatsoever to ban international trade of hammerhead shark fins if exporters are allowed to stockpile them for later export”, said CREMA’s Isabel Naranjo. “Neither do we think that it is correct to use technical criteria with retroactive effects to allow the export of products clearly acquired with that purpose during the export ban”, continued Naranjo.
“We are very disappointed at Costa Rica’s reluctance to continue protecting hammerhead sharks”, said Dana Fahey from Wild Over Wildlife. “We want Costa Rica to return to its position of marine conservation leader like it was in 2013 when it led the global initiative to limit the international trade of hammerhead sharks”, demanded Fahey.
“Up to this point Costa Rica has allowed hammerhead shark fishing to continue unabated to supply the international demand for fins, causing the continued deterioration of hammerhead shark populations during the later years”, denounced Randall Arauz of Fins Attached. “The correct thing to do to at least start protecting hammerhead sharks in Costa Rica, would be for President Solís to ban the export of the stockpile and work towards legally destroying it”, said Arauz.
If you would like to support CREMA, Fins Attached and Wild Over Wildlife’s campaign and sign their petition, please click here (INSERT LINK).
For more information:
Isabel Naranjo
Centro Rescate Especies Marinas Amenazadas (CREMA)
Inaranjo@cremacr.org
+506 8305 0507
Randall Arauz
Fins Attached Marine Research and Conservation – Costa Rica
rarauz@finsattached.org
+506 8708 8253
Dana Fahey, DMD
Advisor: Wild Over Wildlife
vistajpdf@aol.com
CREMA (www.cremacr.org) is a Costa Rican NGO that works to conserve, manage and restore, populations of endangered marine wildlife, and is an elected member of the official Cocos Island Conservation Area Regional Council.
Fins Attached Marine Research and Conservation (www.finsattached.org) believes in the preservation of our world’s precious resources and that through the protection of the ocean’s apex predators marine ecosystem balance can be maintained for the benefit of all living things on earth.
Wild Over Wildlife (www.wildoverwildlife.net). Wild Over Wildlife is a voice for the voiceless animals of the world. We hope to be the teachers of the world who inspire the next generation to be a voice for the voiceless
Costa Rica has all the options and opportunities to continue leading the conservation of sharks globally. However, we have to exert pressure over the decision takers. Help us to save hammerhead sharks. Please sign the petition for the Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis Rivera. Shark fin exports of this and other species must be inmediately banned.
Porque pasa esto en mi país?
¿El Presidente sabe sobre esto?
¿Quien aprueba que haya aletas de tiburón apiladas?
¿Quien es le responsable de esta masacre?
Que mal que estamos en este planeta, como una nota aparte, No soy religioso, me considero espiritual y Sí creo en Dios, Jehová, Alá o simplemente Energía. El ser humano pelea, va a guerra en nombre de la religión y lo que nosotros hemos creado en nombre de Dios, como la Biblia, el Corán no obstante su creación, la naturaleza que es donde Dios Vive y se ve reflejado su amor ante nosotros, lo masacramos, Esto me indigna en mi naturaleza humana , Que vergüenza, Costa Rica Pura Vida, Verde y Feliz… Fuck that!
Esto ocurre pues se tiene una doble moral en la imagen que proyecta el país como supuesto protector de los recursos naturales.
Obviamente el Presidente está enterado y en su administración las políticas adoptadas anteriormente para proteger los tiburones han sido ignoradas y cambiadas sin un criterio técnico o científico firme para permitir el comercio internacional de aletas de tiburón.
De hecho don Luis Guillermo Solis, Presidente de Costa Rica se hizo acreedor de el premio “Enemigo de los tiburones” por parte de la Organización SharkProject de Alemania el año pasado.
La historia de Costa Rica como uno de los primeros 10 países a nivel mundial que promueven el aleteo y el comercio ilegal de especies amenazadas data de varios años atrás, nuestra organización ha liderado en Costa Rica y en el mundo la lucha contra el aleteo y hemos dado seguimiento a este proceso de acumulación de aletas de tiburón martillo en años recientes.
Los responsables son los exportadores de aleta e el Instituto de Pesca y Acuicultura INCOPESCA, que siempre se ha alineado con los intereses de la mafia exportadora de aletas y prácticamente aprueba una actividad que es ilegal pues ya se había propuesto en CITES restringir la comercialización internacional de productos del tiburón martillo pues es una especie amenazada, siendo también Costa Rica firmante de estos acuerdos. Este gobierno dio marcha atrás y por eso estamos pidiendo el apoyo de todos para que firmen esta petición.
Espero eso responda sus preguntas y gracias por su interés.
Thanks guys from WOW and Blue Ocean Network for being so active. Your work will be too helpful to improve our impact over the Costa Rican President decision about the stockpile of hammerhead shark fins. Please keep on goin, the fight is still on.
Together, we can protect our oceans. We have to – they are our lifelines! We appreciate all of your dedication and hard work!
Thanks Dana. Please keep on going collecting sings for us. Every singner must help to find at lesast 10 more sings. Thank you again.