Fighting Illegal Fishing in Costa Rica With Virtual Reality

FECOP organized a training course for approximately thirty officials using virtual reality technologies.

The main objective was to raise awareness and training personnel on applying the Fisheries Law and the international and national regulatory framework to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU fishing). In addition, it aimed to contribute to penalizing these crimes and reducing impunity.

“Illegal fishing is a major problem that affects the whole world. It destroys important fishery resources, non-target species, and marine habitats. Additionally, it erodes conservation regulations and the efforts to recover fisheries and sustainably manage them,” said FECOP’s Director of Science, Moisés Mug.

With the support of Gensler’s Metaverse department, an interactive platform was developed to carry out a practical drill for the apprehension of a fishing boat presumed to be involved in illegal fishing activities by the National Coast Guard.

Through virtual reality, participants could board the commercial ship “El Velasquez,” where they were asked to collect evidence and proof and complete a series of other tasks.

One of the purposes of using this technology and involving judges, prosecutors, and OIJ investigators was to sensitize them about the dangers, the complexity of this task and to familiarize them with the terminology, concepts, and the collection of evidence of illegal fishing.

“This course has been innovative; it combines theory with implementing practical exercises using virtual reality technologies and also allows us to gain experience,” said environmental prosecutor Alejandro Alpízar.

On the other hand, the deputy environmental prosecutor, José Pablo González, stressed that “initial reactions have been very positive” and that this tool has enormous potential.

The second phase of the project will improve this exercise module, diversifying the scenarios and the complexity and difficulty of the exercises, seeking to take advantage of the full potential of this tool to combat this problem,” he added.