Tuna firm spokesman defends project as taking advantage of nation’s potential
A representative of the firm that wants to put a tuna farm underwater in southwestern Costa Rica said Thursday that the country should take advantage of its undersea resources.
The representative is Eduardo Velarde Silva, and he spoke to the Asamblea Legislativa’s Comisión Especial de Ambiente. China has 174,000 square kilometers of territorial waters and it is the No. 1 aquaculture producer, he said, noting that Costa Rica has 600,000 square kilometers and great potential.
The commission heard a series of environmentalists speak against the project last week. As news of the project by Granjas Atuneras de Golfito S.A. spread, a firestorm erupted among tourism officials and nature lovers.
The project would put two-kilometer long cages beneath the sea to raise yellow fin tuna.
Opponents say the project will litter the Golfo Dulce with dead sardines used to feed the tuna and cause a host of other problems.
Velarde said that the project would be run in an environmentally conscious manner and that if the ocean were degraded, so would be the tuna business.