by Rod Hughes

What if they gave a fish auction and nobody came? And are Costa Rica’s tourism sportfishing boats going to have to equip themselves with torpedos before the large international fishing boats will let them alone?

First the auction. Last month a court in the Pacific port of Puntarenas was forced to turn back to the tuna fishing boat Tiuna 230 tons of yellowfin tuna confiscated when the Panama-flagged vessel was caught fishing in Costa Rica’s territorial waters. Nobody bid on the tuna. The charges against 23 crew members was dismissed but the captain, Ariel Bustamonte, still faces charges of fishing in the World Patromony-protected waters off Cocos Island. The charge states that he caused $12 million in environment damage.

The case has already turned up a clerical error in the Legslative Assembly that leaves Costa Rica seemingly wide open to pirate tuna fishering. Anyway, under the law the maximum fine Bustamonte faces, according to The Tico Times, is only a paltry $28,000.

Meantime, Central America’s leading English-language publication turned up a more distrubing situation, the threatening behavior of international fishing vessels against Costa Rica’s sportfishing boats. Charter captains taking tourists out for sportfishing have reported three such incidents in the several weeks leading up to The Tico Times edition of July 4.

There was nothing vague or subtle about these aggressions. In the June 20 event, four sportfishing boats were chased off a school of tuna in the waters off Quepos by a commercial tuna vessel’s helicopter buzzing them and then dropping explosives nearby. Witnesses reported seeing an AK-47 automatic weapon in the chopper.

The very next day, seven boats north of Jaco were trapped in the circle of a commercial vessel’s long nets, threated by the boat and its helicopter for a full hour. (That the tuna vessel is registered in Nicaragua by a Panamanian company shows how difficult is prosecuting them.) On June 22, a sportfishing boat was menaced by a tuna boat off Cabo Blanco.

Commentary: This is not the first instance of such aggression. Two decades ago, when this reporter was in The Tico Times newsroom, he investigated a similar case in the waters off Flamingo. At that time, unlike in the above three cases, the boat had no way of documenting the threat on film. In the above cases photographic evidence has been turned over to the Costa Rica Fisheries Institute (INCOPESCA)

In the case of the Tiuna there is no excuse for fishing in the priceless ecological treasure trove of Cocos Island waters. Tuna fishers carry the latest global positioning aparatus and the island is known worldwide as a protected area. The Legislative Assembly should pass emergency measures to rectify their errors–as well as to bring to millions the dollar fines for infractions. The only way to punish naked, callous greed is by hitting the pocketbook. Moreover, the country’s 12-mile limit for licensed commerical fishing should be extended to 40 or even 60 miles.

The dismissal of charges against the crew has been condemned by Costa Rica’s Chief Prosecutor Francisco Dall’Anese and MarViva, a private ecological watchdog foundation instrumental in Tiuma’s capture, questions whether Costa Rican courts are serious about protecting their environment. They spent an estimated $40,000 in the patrol that led to that capture.

The threatening of sportfishing vessels is no less than a violent act. The tuna fishers are large ocean-going ships and one touch of their steel hulls could sink the tourist boats with possible loss of life. It underscores the ruthlessness of these pirates who consider the entire Pacific Ocean their own. An international unwritten law exists that if a vessel is already fishing an area, all others steer clear.

Due to the international nature of the big tuna fishers’ ownership, diplomatic pressure should be applied to deprive these vessels of their flags and registries. Otherwise, not only could it drive perfectly legal fishing boats from the seas but help usher in a lawless era where raw force usurps rights of free use of the waves.

by Rod Hughes

Minister of Housing Fernando Zumbado voluntarily took leave of his job (with pay) yesterday while the budgetary watchdog Comptroller General’s Office probes into his use of $1.5 million donated by Taiwan in 2006. The donation was made directly to the government and was meant for providing housing for poverty stricken residents of a slum in Pavas.

At least, that was the story in 2006. It seems that things have changed. Not only has Costa Rica cut diplomatic relations with the Taiwan but Zumbado now claims that the funds were not all destined for Pavas. Instead, the money seems to have gone toward financing studies and paying a horde of “consultants.”

So far as has been revealed up to today, not a single dwelling has been built but $423,000 was given to a study group with the acronymn FLACSO for a program to encourage kids not to drop out of school. The money is now almost gone, having not only financed Flacso´s study but in lesser amounts having been dribbled out to other ¨consultations.¨

The investigation will probe into whether this is a case of misuse of funds or simply Attention Deficiency Disorder on Zumbado´s part.

Meanwhile, another secret fund scandal involves the presidential offices directly. The newspaper La Nacion, following closely the congressional hearings of the permanent government spending oversight committee, found that the report on an international bank grant to the Presidency, was incomplete. The two grants by the BCIE bank for a total of $2 million were also spent for consulting services.

When the newspaper broke the story, Minister of the Presidency Rodrigo Arias first promised full explanations, then changed his tune to say that by law the use of such funds do not have to be explained since they do not come from the taxpayers’ pockets. But the ministry did send a list of consultants paid by the donation, along with justifications for hiring them, to the Legislative Assembly committee.

But the list of both consultants and justifications was incomplete, revealed the newspaper, the country’s largest and most prestigious publication. (It is the national equivilant of The New York Times or The Times of London and has an illustrious history of investigative reporting.)

by Rod Hughes

The daily La Nación revealed yesterday a chilling fact for motorists sharing the highway with heavy cargo vehicles: 70% of them have flunked inspections or are completely uninspected for mechanical faults such as faulty breaks, tires with only enough rubber left to wrap around a few lbs of air, burned out turn signals… Just a few silly little details like that.

This is the figure from a study of the 30,000 heavy trucks and tractor-trailers in circulation. Last year, Riteve, the company charged with vehicle inspections, flunked 22,000 of them. By far the largest number, 41%, either had weak brakes or imbalanced ones which could cause the driver to lose control. But trailer rigs are the worst. Luis Coto of Chamber of Truckers says that none of them are obligated by law to be inspected because they, in themselves, are not powered. But the tractor of a semi rig can’t stop a loaded trailer without aid of those meaty air brakes. If the hoses are insecure, they will plow through obstacles, including other vehicle.

But the laughable part is the fine for not passing inspection and continuing to haul freight: 10,000 colones–that’s more or less $20. And without the traffic bill still hung up in the Legislative Assembly, it will not be higher in the near future. It just may stay that way until one of the main parties´ lawmakers is killed in an accident with a runaway freight truck.

That’s not all freight haulers are guilty of—a study by the University of Costa Rica revealed at 40% of those semis you see barreling down the road are over weight limit for cargo. But few weighing stations exist in this country and, again, fines have long been detoxed by inflation.