Costa Rica

The Costa Rican fishing sector has a great social and economic importance as a source of foreign exchange but above all for its contribution to employment in marginal and economically depressed areas such as the coastal areas of the country. The second most important fishery by catch volume is that of longliners of various sizes, many of which fish outside the 12-mile limit; the larger ones up to 24-meters long usually fish outside the Costa Rican EEZ. According to INCOPESCA (2012), some 522 vessels are registered in this fishery. Costa Rican longliners use some 17 private docks and one state-owned.

  Country context 

The Costa Rican fishing sector has great social and economic importance as a source of foreign exchange but above all for its contribution to employment in marginal and economically depressed areas such as the coastal areas of the country. However, fishing and aquaculture are only 1.4% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (FAO 2014a).
 
The commercial fishing sector has contracted in recent decades. The percentage of people employed in agriculture and fishing has declined steadily since the 1970s (Salazar 2013), and marine capture has fallen from 44,908 t in 2000 to 27,797 t in 2009 (FAO 2014a).
 
The main fisheries are tuna (60.5% of the 2009 capture) and whitefish (37.8% of the 2009 capture) (FAO, 2014a). Employment in the value chain has been estimated in 72,817 posts in 2012, of this 23% concentrate on harvesting, 72% concentrate in processing, and 6% concentrate in distribution (FAO, 2014a). Tuna is captured by industrial and artisanal fleets. Most of the industrial capture (about 25.000t  per year) comes from foreign purse-seiners that operate in Costa Rica´s Pacific Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) under licenses issued by INCOPESCA.
 
The second most important fishery bycatch volume is that of longliners of various sizes, many of which fish outside the 12-mile limit; the larger ones up to 24-meters long usually fish outside the Costa Rican EEZ. 
According to INCOPESCA (2012), some 522 vessels are registered in this fishery. Costa Rican longliners use some 17 private docks and one state-owned.
Longliner fleets primarily target large pelagic species such as mahi mahi, shark, billfish, tuna, etc., and the type of fishing can be classified according to target catch, such as shark longlining or mahi mahi longlining. The fishery is multi-specific, however, aimed at various species. Crew numbers range from three for the smaller 8-11-meter vessels, up to seven for the longer 15-24-meter vessels.  If the target species is mahi mahi, the line is shallow-set, squid is the main bait, no steel leaders are used and the lines are set during the day. If targeting swordfish, tuna or sharks, the line is set deeper, steel leaders are used for catching sharks, the lines are set at night and bait with high oil content is used.
 
Fish bycatch includes sailfish (Isthiophorus platypterus), wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri), elasmobranchs (sharks, skates and rays) and other non-commercial species of conservation concern, such as the five species of sea turtles: – olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivaea), green or black (Chelonia mydas), hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), luth or leatherback (Dermochelys coriácea), and loggerhead (Caretta caretta) – and, very occasionally, marine mammals and birds. Ninety-nine percent of sea turtles accidentally caught in surface longlines are alive, and their chances of survival increase with captains and crews trained in proper handling and release. Green-stick fishing, or greensticking, is a highly selective form of fishing with only 0.5% bycatch.

Country Project Objectives

 

The objective of this project in Costa Rica is to expand synergies and the participation of domestic and international stakeholders in product value chains. It will thus focus on creating conditions for improving supply of sustainable fishery products from Costa Rica, through the development of a sustainable marine product platform comprised primarily of public and private stakeholders in the value chain, as well as other interested parties. The goal is to put in place conditions for supplying sustainable fishery products. Platform participants will gain experience through the development of fishery improvement projects for tuna, swordfish and mahi mahi fisheries. 

This initiative has the following goals:

  • Facilitate a forum for intersectoral and interinstitutional coordination and cooperation to consolidate a National Action Plan guiding joint coordination and implementation (by government, companies, fishers, civil society, and academia) of large pelagics fisheries
  • Promote demonstration fishery improvement projects (FIPs) on best practices for large pelagics fisheries, as well as fishery certification schemes
  • Develop a system for implementing and monitoring social and environmental improvements in large pelagics fishery
  • Help position Costa Rica as a country committed to responsible fishing, and ensure access to the international market for its fishery products

Supported Fishery Improvement Projects (FIP)

Fisheries Improvement Project for Tuna, Swordfish and Dorado

The multi-species longline fishery targeting highly migratory large pelagic species as tuna, swordfish and mahimahi,is of crucial importance in Costa Rica. Average annual landings in the last 10 years (2006-2016) account for approximately 1000 metric tons (mt) of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), 800 mt of swordfish (Xiphias gladius) and around 1500 mt of mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus), a species for which availability has significantly dropped in the last four years. Costa Rican commercial fleets mainly use surface longlines as fishing gear.

Approximately 350 vessels are registered, ranging from 12 m to 25 m in length. The main Pacific fishing communities for these species are Cuajiniquil, Puntarenas, Quepos and Golfito. Large pelagic species are a key part of the seafood sector in Costa Rica, providing livelihoods to coastal communities of the Pacific. It is the most important part of the seafood sector in the country for international markets – specifically the US markets, which imports 80% of the landed volume.

Several species of tuna, billfish, and sharks, among others, are primary and secondary species, and the olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) is the most present endangered, threatened and protected (ETP) species in this fishery.

See more information about the FIP : Fisheries Project for Tuna, Swordfish and Dorado in Costa Rica  

Contact information

Sandra Andraka

National Project Coordinator