The government of Japan this week donated around $100,000 to provide better tools in the fight against illegal fishing in and around Isla del Coco. Illegal fishing has received more attention as of late, mainly due to the National Geographic documentary as part of the Ocean Now project that spent time recently diving at Coco to explore new species and highlight the need to protect the rich marine biodiversity of this area. The Isla del Coco was declared “Patrimonio Natural de Humanidad” in 1997. The money will be used to hire another 10 park rangers and to create better housing for the island rangers. The currently available lodging, known as Villa Beatriz, is not adequate to house the additional park rangers. The donation will also be used to purchase equipment such as a generator, life rafts, and a mechanical apparatus that allows rangers to discover illegal fishing lines that will be used in the patrol boats known as Cocos Patrol and Faico II. Also the money will be used to install a hydroelectric turbine that will convert water from a river on the island to electricity, which is a project of ICE (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad) that studies show presents a very low environmental impact on the island.
Link to Article in La Nación
Tags: Illegal fishing at Isla del Coco, isla del coco, Ocean Now
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on Friday, March 19th, 2010 at 12:00 am and is filed under Costa Rica Environment.
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March 24th, 2010 at 12:55 am
This really concerns me. I was directed to this blog by Marjorie Retana’s comments on the Pretoma website. As the coordinator of the “No Tuna Farms” campaing here in Costa Rica, I understand the interest that the Japanese sushi market has in the establishment of an unsustainable yellow fin tuna aquaculture project at the mouth of the Golfo Dulce. We have managed to stop further governmental environmental viability permits from being issued; however, this “donation” from Japan is very concerning to me for obvious reasons. I have posted a lot more info on my blog (September and October) if you’re interested. And let’s stay in touch over this and many other conservation issues.
I have added the package costa rica blog to my blog role and it would be great if you could do the same!!
Andy Bystrom