by Rod Hughes

In an unusual move, Costa Rica’s top prosecutor, Francisco Dall’Anese, launched harsh criticism of a Puntarenas judge who released 22 seamen arrested for fishing in the Cocos Island wildlife preserve. “This sets a bad precedent,” said Dall’Anese, “It says to international tuna fishermen that they can come to the island and and take all the tuna. Knowing these companies, Cocos Island is lost.”

The 200-ft.-long tuna clipper Tiuna carrying its own helicopter dwarfed the Costa Rican Coast Guard patrol vessel that captured her Jan. 29 as the Tiuna fished in forbidden waters near the Costa Rican island. Aboard they found 230 tons of tuna valued at tens of thousands of dollars, plus explosives. The island is not only national territory but a National Park and private craft are forbidden to even land people, let alone hunt or fish on it or its surrounding waters.

The judge even canceled an auction of the fish aboard as required by law. Dall’Anese said no written record of the hearing was made, although a video was made, so he has no idea what arguments persuaded Judge Marvin Orlando Cerdas to release the accused. The court did not release the video because of “technical difficulties. Dall’Anese, the equivalent of the Attorney General of this country, told the newspaper La Nacion that releasing the Colombian, Venezuelan and Mexican crew members would allow them to leave the country, depriving him of defendants to prosecute. Only one crewman was Costa Rican.

“We have to release the tuna boat to its owners,” he said. In the past, tuna clippers have been fined thousands of dollars for fishing in Costa Rican territorial waters without permits. But this case is even more heinous, ecologically speaking, because even Costa Rican-owned boats are prohibited access to the preserve, making the decision of this judge even more difficult to explain.