Court nullifies resolution that dismissed a precautionary measure requesting to halt exports of their products.
Silky and Thresher sharks may soon enjoy protection in Costa Rica Court nullifies resolution that dismissed a precautionary measure requesting to halt exports of their products (San Jose, Costa Rica – March 4, 2025). The Contentious Administrative Appeals Tribune nullified the resolution of last December 5 that had dismissed the imposition of a precautionary measure that seeks to halt the export of silky and thresher shark products. The decision was given last Friday February 21 after admitting an appeal filed by lawyer Walter Brenes of Energy Law Firm, and which orders the instance tribunal to issue a new resolution “as soon as possible”.
Lawyer Brenes had requested the imposition of a precautionary measure ordering to immediately halt the export of shark products sourced from species listed under the Ministry of Environment’s List of Marine Coastal Species of Endangered Wildlife, specifically silky sharks and three species of thresher sharks, since June 20th, 2024.
The Judge of the instance tribune, however, dismissed the request for the precautionary measure last December 5 on the grounds that it lacked appearance of good law. Lawyer Brenes resorted to the Appeals Tribune and attained the nullification of the dismissal of the precautionary measure last February 21st. According to the appeals Judge, the precautionary measure requested doesn’t only comply fully with the appearance of good law, it also meets the criteria of risk inherent to delay of application.
“The position adopted by the State until now has been completely contrary to the public interest, benefiting third parties in detriment to the people’s right to a sane and ecologically balanced environment,” denounced lawyer Brenes. “We hope a new resolution by the instance tribune will order the State to comply with its duty and that these exports are halted immediately,” emphasized Brenes.
This hypocritical policy could make other countries question Costa Rica’s moral authority to co-host the upcoming United Nations Ocean Conference 2025 (UNOC3), to take place in Nice, France from June 9–13, 2025,” pointed out Randall Arauz, of Marine Watch International -Costa Rica. “After all, how can Costa Rica pretend to be co-host with any credibility at all, if since 2017, and throughout 3 presidential terms, it openly and illegally favors the shark fin exporting industry?” he asked.
The case. On June 21, 2023, the 1st Hall of Appeals of the Supreme Court of Justice declared the absolute nullity of the Board of INCOPESCA Agreement AJDIP/290-2017, which had declared silky and thresher sharks as commercial species and INCOPESCA as their governing body, because it was determined to be an unlawful act, and ordered the Ministry of Environment to exert its governing body over these species in compliance with the Wildlife Conservation Law. According to the 1st Hall, species listed under the Ministry of Environment’s List of Marine Coastal Species of Endangered Wildlife do not meet the criteria to be considered commercial species, because of which, the export of their products is prohibited by Article 75 of the Wildlife Conservation Law.
Despite the mandate, from June 2023 to May 2024, Costa Rica exported 734.4 tons of silky shark meat for a value of $1,869,600.00, 45.1 tons of silky shark fins for a value of $4,956,000.00, and 3.4 tons of thresher shark fins for a value of $179,900. These exports were authorized illegally by INCOPESCA, as the institution lacks any governing body over these species, according to the sentence of the 1st Hall of the Supreme Court of Justice of June 21, 2023.
For more information:
Walter Brenes
Energy Law Firm
wbrenes@elawf.com | +506 8995 3068
Randall Arauz
Marine Watch International
rarauz@marinewatch.org | +506 8708 8253