Costa Rica News – As I read about the fact that Costa Rica was chosen to receive an award for their “protection” of sharks from them being killed for Shark fins, I literally thought I was a part of a large scale April Fool’s joke. How would it be possible for a country that does nothing to try to stop this trade to get an award for protecting sharks? I guess the smoke and mirrors that the Costa Rican government has thrown up with their unenforced laws that they are passing has fooled another group.
They already fooled Sir Richard Branson when he came to Costa Rica and Chinchilla passed the bill to ban shark finning but they made sure a loophole was left to allow this trade in Costa Rica.
As long as the fins are attached to the spines of the corpse of the dead shark then they are “not shark finning.” Costa Rica went to the UN to point out that this was happening. Ok great, it is happening, and yet they do not fix the loophole.
There is no way the Costa Rican government would want to piss off China or Japan who are continually giving money to Costa Rica as “gifts.”
Why do you think that they are trying to extradite Captain Watson from Sea Shepherd? Was it a coincidence that right after they asked for extradition they received $560 million from Japan?
The president of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, received the international award “Shark Guardian 2013″, awarded by the German organization “Shark Project” thanks to their policies to boost the protection of marine resources and for their fight against “finning” sharks.
The award recognized the actions of Chinchilla for the creation of the Deputy Minister of Water and Mares, and the enactment of a regulation which prohibits the import, transport, transfer, and possession of shark fins in vessels within territorial waters. – Does nothing of the sort, and ICOPESCA was supposed to do this.
Chinchilla’s government also created the “Marine Management Area Seamounts”, a rich area adjacent to Isla del Coco biodiversity, which is listed by Unesco as a World Heritage Site. Have you heard of any ships being punished for illegal fishing or shark finning?
The “Shark Guardian 2013″ is the second award for Costa Rica’s president during her administration because in 2011 she was honored with the award “Excellence in the National Administration of the Oceans”, awarded by the Peter Benchley Ocean Awards. – Another Joke
Mrs Chinchilla, I know you think that you have fooled everyone into thinking you actually care about protecting your waters but the laws you have put in place are only laws if they are enforced. You have done nothing to put in place agencies that are functional. You and the people you have around you are a joke. When you actually start punishing people for destroying your environment and seas let me know, because I am not as stupid as the rest of the people out there you try to fool. You will be out of the presidency next year and Costa Rica can only hope the next president is not as bad as you.
