Coast Guard denies crew sunk an illegal fishing boat in Gulf of Nicoya

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Officers of the National Coast Guard Service reported that Sunday crew members were attacked in the Gulf of Nicoya* where a fishing boat overturned.

According to the Coast Guard report, during the rescue operation, other fishermen tried to stop the rescue and also attacked the crew members with rocks and gasoline bombs.

Commissioner Martín Arias, director of the Coast Guard Service, denied a report that has circulated online that said officers sunk the ship. Instead, the Coast Guard said the boat overturned while trying to flee inspection.

Commercial fishing is prohibited in the Gulf of Nicoya as of Aug. 1 as an annual environmental measure to allow the fish to prosper. The Coast Guard said a patrol boat ventured into the gulf near the Venado island after there had been complaints that some fishermen were violating the prohibition.

Personnel from the Coast Guard Station at the Port of Caldera* in Puntarenas gave this version of the events:

About 9:15 a.m. off Venado island the crew of the patrol boat saw more than five boats whose crews appeared to be fishing. When the fishermen noticed the police presence, the boat occupants began to escape. One crew began to lift a fishing gear called a changa or dredge, which is used in trawling.

The boat crew activated a siren in an effort to halt the boat with the dredge so crewmen could identify them, inspect the ship and request instructions from the Prosecutor's Office.

Instead of stopping, those fishermen suspected of violating the environmental ban accelerated their boats and began to carry out evasive maneuvers so as not to be hit by the Coast Guard vessel.

After a few minutes, due to the waves, as well as the poorly executed evasive maneuvers, the boat of one alleged offender overturned. Then fishing boats returned to support the fishermen in the emergency.

The Coast Guards tried to assist the crew of the overturned boat, but crews of other boats proceeded to perform reckless maneuvers to prevent assistance to the fishermen who had fallen into the water. The attackers uttered insults and death threats against the Coast Guard crew, while exhibiting containers with gasoline and explosive devices of the molotov cocktail variety.

Other fishermen threw stones and various metal objects at the Coast Guard officers.

One of the boats sped in a threatening way to try to collide with the Coast Guard craft, diverting its from its course just when it was about to crash into the patrol boat, thus putting the life of the coast guard crew and that of the fishermen themselves at risk.

That is why the officers of the Coast Guard Station of Caldera will make a criminal complaint today before the Prosecutor's Office of Puntarenas, both for the aggressions committed against the officers in Sunday's operation, and for the crime of illegal fishing. The ban runs until the end of this month.

According to the authorities, the conflict between officers and fishermen is due to the ban on fishing in the Gulf.

As detailed by the Coast Guard director, from the beginning of the ban on Aug. 1 until last Sunday, 20 people have been apprehended and referred to the Public Prosecutor for illegal fishing, while 15 vessels have been seized by the authorities.

"During 212 patrols, the Coast Guard team has traveled about 27,000 kilometers, which has involved an investment of approximately $68,767 to protect the fishing resource of the Gulf of Nicoya during the present ban, so that it is used responsibly by the whole sector and not just for a few fishermen, "said the National Coast Guard in its statement.

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