Error in Law Leaves Territorial Waters Open to Illegal Fishing
by Rod Hughes
An error in a law passed three years ago inadvertantly leaves open Costa Rican territorial waters, including wildlife perserve Cocos Island, to illegal fishing. The error was not discovered until the prosecution of the tuna fishing boat Tiuna Jan. 29.
The law was aimed at tightening up regulations. Instead, it replaced stiff 3- to 15-year sentences for illegal fishing in the Criminal Code with a slap on-the-wrist fine. The law’s Article 153, passed in March, 2005, tacitly nullified the previous Article 258 of the Criminal Code. Ironically, that new article was proposed by the current Touism Minister Carlos Ricardo Benevides when he was a congressional deputy. Benevides said that no one warned him of the disastrous gap the new article made.
At least, it revealed finally why Puntarenas judge Marvin Cerdas declined the prosecution plea to jail the captain of the Tiuna and her 21 crewmen. When Cerdas’s sentence was finally published, it contained the pained paragraph: “As a citizen, I can tell you that I worry a great deal about the condition that can occur at Cocos Island and what it means for Costa Rica and humanity…” (The island has been proposed for a patrimony of humanity status due to its isolation and condition as a wildlife refuge.)
“Nontheless,” continued Cerdas, “in this case, above the arguments of a common, ordinary citizen, my position is as judge and I must resolve this in accord with penal procedural legality.” The judge proceeded to cite a precedent in a similar case last December when a three-judge tribunal ruled that the new article and not the Penal Code applied. It was for this reason, said Cerdas, that he did not hold the crew in custody even though they were clearly flight risks. He could not deprive men of their liberty, he concluded, if the law did not allow it.