The meeting took place in Puerto Jimenez located on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica’s South Pacific Coast. One of the main issues discussed at the meeting was in reference to the practices of large shrimp vessels which use the trawling method for catching shrimp.
The trawling method used by these vessels consists in dragging a large trawl net across the ocean floor. The nets scoop up everything in their path: shrimp, all sorts of fish and marine life including the endangered sea turtle. The unwanted sea animals are called ‘bycatch’ and are often dumped on deck dead or dying. The fishermen then pick out the shrimp and dump everything back into the sea.
This method is unfortunately widely used and has one of the highest levels of bycatch. The artisan fishers which make a living off of tourism in the Golfo Dulce region have been highly affected by the constant destruction of marine life by these shrimp vessels. The local environmentalists and artisan fishermen are aware that by every pound of shrimp that is collected, 3 pounds of bycatch are destroyed.
In Costa Rica alone, the shrimp industry processes from 6,000 to 8,000 metric tons of bycatch per year. Artisan and Sports fishermen complain that while they must make ends meet in order to make a living, large shrimp companies are destroying tons of marine life.
A public manifesto was created during the meeting and has been addressed to the president of the National Fishing Organization, INCOPESCA. Within the petitions included, the organization has asked for the prohibition of shrimp trawling in the Golfo Dulce area as well as the prohibition of shrimp vessels to disembark their catch on the Golfito Municipal Dock.
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