FECOP has made great strides in protecting Costa Rica’s marine ecosystems and the local economies that rely on the oceans valuable, limited resources. These are just a few FECOPS accomplishments to date.

• Stopped the Exportation of Sailfish from Costa Rica
• Created the Largest Marine Area of Responsible Fishing in Central America, The Golfo Dulce.
• 2014 Tuna Decree Project Moving Tuna Purse Seine Boats 45 Miles Off the Coast as well as Protecting a Total of Over 200,000 Square Miles of Territorial Water from Tuna Operations
• Joined with Gray Fish-Tag Research in Tagging Operations and Scholarship Program for Costa Rica University Students to Conduct Research on Species of Sport Fishing Interest. We Will be Placing the First Tags in Roosterfish This Year.
• Invested More Than $100,000 in a Training Program With Two Go Government Agencies to Explore and Teach Selective Types of Fishing for Tuna with no Billfish Bycatch.
• 2017, With Follow Up Research on the Tuna Decree the Government was Convinced to Temporarily Ban New Tuna Licensing Reducing the Catch from 25,000 Metric Tons to 9,000 Metric Tons. This will Reduce the Billfish Bycatch from 30 Metric Tons to Just Over 5 Metric Tons Annually.  FECOP is Currently Lobbying For A Permanent Ruling.

Who We Are

Sport and recreational fishing has contributed actively to the coastal development of our country since its consolidation over a period of almost 70 years. Fishing clubs, tourism operators a have contributed to the positioning of this activity, above and beyond any promotion by the State. More than 60,000 direct and indirect jobs, as well as a contribution of 330 million dollars to Costa Rica’s gross domestic product, are among the benefits obtained from this activity. In addition to this information recognized and produced by different sources, sport fishing has other less visible impacts and benefits. It represents a socioeconomic sector with a special dynamic that needs to be understood from a scientific and technical perspective so as to boost its growth and contribution to Costa Rican society.

Our History

The Costa Rican Fisheries Federation (FECOP) is a federation of organizations that promotes sport fishing in Costa Rica through scientific and technical research. FECOP comprises organizations seeking to protect, develop, and promote the sustainable use of the country’s marine fisheries, and particularly billfish and other pelagic species of interest.

FECOP was established in 2008 driven by representatives of the sport-fishing sector interested in protecting our oceans and their species for the benefit of one of the country’s development sectors that depends of the situation of pelagic species.

These constituent organizations have a long history in the field of sport fishing and saw the birth of this tourism industry in Costa Rica. Some of these have contributed to the national panorama for over 70 years, while others are more recent and are the result of tourism development in the nineties.

FECOP’s current focus is changing. It is working closely with the sport fishing sector and its protagonists, as well as with the commercial fishing sector promoting actions that are beneficial to them both.