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