Oceans and Communities

Cocos Island, 300 miles of the coast of Costa Rica, is an undersea wonderland, home to hammerhead sharks, white tip sharks, rays, and the largest fish in the world, the whale shark. It is also home to healthy tuna populations that have drawn international fishing fleets under the management of the InterAmerican Tropical Tuna Commission into these biologically rich waters.

While there is a 12-mile Marine Protected Area around Cocos Island, international purse seine vessels are scouring the nearby seas. A purse seine vessel will catch 20-30 tons of tuna in a single set. Local rangers and small-scale fishermen have witnessed purse seiners using dynamite to scare tuna out of the MPA and into their nets.

Local fishermen have adopted less destructive technology – small-scale longliners, which solely target yellow fin tuna and only catch 80 to 100 tuna before needing to return to shore.

We are working with Costa Rican environmental organizations and small-scale fishers to convince the IATTC to create a 40-mile buffer around Cocos Island, that will keep out industrial fishers and only allow small-scale, local fishers access to these Costa Rican waters.

Donate now to support our efforts to create more protected areas in the ocean.