100 Mile Limit for Purse Seine Fishing Closer to a Reality

Article by Doug Olander, Fishing and Travel Magazine

In December, Costa Rica’s Commission of Agriculture Affairs voted to extend the current
45-mile limit for tuna purse seiners fishing the country’s Pacific waters out to a 100-mile
limit.

The Costa Rican Fishing Federation (FECOP) spelled out for the commission why improving protections for Costa Rica’s valuable tuna resources is vital for both the high-value sport fishing industry and the country’s artisanal fishermen.

Lacking a domestic purse-seine fleet, the country sells licenses to fish its territorial waters
to foreign-flagged boats, says Todd Staley with FECOP. He points out that the creation of a45-mile zone along the coast closed to purse seiners in 2014 (replacing a 12-mile limit
before that) made a great difference.

“Studies since have shown that the 45 mile zone has become a great recruitment area not only for tuna, but for other species like dorado (dolphinfish), marlin and sailfish,” Staley says. “These game fish are often bycatch in tuna nets, along with sharks, rays, turtles and dolphins.

Tuna Persein Commerical Fishing Dolphins — Tuna fishing vessel with dolphin chase boats circles dolphins off the Osa Peninsula

As the tuna mature, they often move farther offshore within the range of the purse seine
boats.” He cites a 2018 study showing that in that year alone, the 45-mile limit saved more than 25 tons of marlin from ending up as bycatch in seine nets. The 45-mile zone also has made it a productive recruitment area not just for tunas but also for dorado (mahi) and billfishes.

But more is needed. “During a video news clip Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro toured
one of his country’s flagged vessels unloading 1,400 tons of tuna from one fishing trip in CostaRican waters. That tonnage is more than Costa Rica´s entire commercial fleet catches in one year,” Staley says.

However, the tuna industry claims there isn’t enough science to justify moving the fleet out beyond the current 45-mile zone. A team from FECOP and another non-government
organization, MarViva, have been working together for several months to supply the
science necessary to counter that argument.

Adding urgency to the regulatory change, the governing Inter-American Tropical Tuna
Commission’s failure to extend current regulations at its December meeting “leaves the
entire [tuna] fishery for bigeye, yellowfin and skipjack without management measures,”
Staley says.