Shark Finning ALIVE and WELL in Costa Rica

Shark finning and Costa Rica are synonymous.
Costa Rica and shark finning, shark finning and Costa Rica... whenever someone mentions shark finning, Costa Rica's name is not far behind... that is NOT a good thing in case you don't know.

Gringo price me, tico time me, pass me on a curve, lose my paperwork, shake me down for money.... but STOP the shark finning DAMN IT!

Shark finning is back in the NEWS. And guess what? It hasn't changed a bit. Laws to protect against shark finning get circumvented or ignored by the powers that be and believe me, it's definitely a calculated move by the Costa Rican government. Obviously it's about the money and keeping the Asians HAPPY. I mean, they built us a stadium, gave us police cars, bikes, soccer balls, surely they can continue to cut the fins off helpless sharks in order to continue their fucked up tradition of eating shark fin soup. Seems pretty quid pro quo. The irony, shark fin soup tastes like 'nothing'. So thousands of sharks die for 'nothing'.

Of all our videos, I wish this one had the most HITS. It's one of the first videos we ever did, I got a chance to talk to Randall Arauz, President of Pretoma, the folks that help the sharks and sea turtles. It explains the situation fairly succinctly. Please help get the WORD out, embed this video where ever you can. The sharks will thank you for it.

ALL the info in this video is still pertinent... unfortunately.
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Sharks have a few ALLIES in Costa Rica

"The cruel practice of 'shark finning' is threatening Costa Rica’s eco-friendly image", said Ethical Traveler, one of the organizations trying to alter the practice of shark finning in Costa Rica.
Don't know what shark finning IS? This is a pretty good description:

Shark finning is the act of chopping the fins off of live sharks and dumping the then-helpless sharks back into the sea to drown. The fins are exported to Asia where they are used in an expensive delicacy: shark fin soup—or as journalist John Platt calls it, “Extinction in a Bowl.”

Fuckin' Asian tradition.
Oh, and the IMPACT of shark finning:

A 2007 study published by Science magazine showed a 90-percent decline in global shark populations in recent decades.

Here's the GOOD NEWS as reported in AM Costa Rica just yesterday:

"EthicalTraveler.org has partnered with nonprofit groups MissionBlue.org and Costa Rica’s Pretoma.org to stop shark finning in the Central American nation. In April, Pretoma founder Randall Arauz received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Award for his work to pass a Costa Rican law requiring that sharks be “landed” with their fins attached — a major victory for the sharks. But the work is not finished, said Ethical Traveler."

And as this article pointed out, my HERO, Randall Arauz, received the 'Goldman Environmental Award' a few months back and it's always nice to see worthy folks getting recognized for their efforts, especially when they speak up for those who have no VOICE.

Shark finning is a HUGE problem, and especially here in Costa Rica and especially, especially in Puntarenas, where the Taiwanese and CHINESE influence in Costa Rica is growing. Ironically, Costa Rica has some of the BEST laws on the BOOKS in regards to shark finning and longline fishing but like many laws here, ENFORCEMENT is a totally different matter. Money talks....especially when they, (the Chinese) build you a SOCCER STADIUM.

I was fortunate enough to sit down and interview Randall Arauz a couple years ago, matter of fact, one of the FIRST videos we ever did, which I POST whenever I get the CHANCE. Tell your friends, EMBED this video, re-TWEET this post, Facebook it, DIGG it, Link-it, do whatever it takes to get the word out about shark finning, longline fishing etc. It’s really the LEAST we could do.

Without further ado:



There's a wealth of information out there, so get educated and REMEMBER this isn't just about SHARKS, it's much BIGGER than that, this is about the food chain, the Circle of Life and how it affects us ALL.

Seriously, how bad does it have to get BEFORE we do something?
TONS of Costa Rica Travel Info and VIDEOS on our website: Travel Costa Rica NOW and if you want to visit our YouTube Channel: iCostaRica24 ENjoY!

Casa Caletas Hotel- tell me it's NOT true

Casa Caletas Hotel on the Nicoya Penisula in Costa Rica- "Do you care about the sea turtles... well, do ya?"
Casa Caletas Hotel on the Nicoya Peninsula needs to be held to a little accountability... or NOT, and that's the point of this POST- I think we're entitled to some answers.

Independence Day in La Fortuna is over which means I have written my ONE 'feel-good' post for the month (I do have monthly quotas you know). Now I can get back to what I do best, wading through BULLSHIT.

So, where were we? Oh yeah, the Casa Caletas Hotel down on the Nicoya Peninsula.

Here's a quick summary taken from my last post:

I wrote about Agropecuaria Caletas S.A., the fucks who continue to (ignoring a mandate) obliterate, annihilate, devastate and ‘drain’ the wetlands within the Caletas Ario National Wildlife Refuge, which was created to protect the olive ridley and leatherback sea turtles that nest there- Oh! and get this, ALL for the sake of planting a cornfield… a fuckin CORNFIELD. How SAD is that? Go to Pretoma's website for the full article.

So, the president of Agropecuaria Caletas S.A. is, Sylvester Feichtinger, who is also the supposed owner of the Casa Caletas Hotel. But,

...let's just say I want to START over and give the benefit of the doubt to Casa Caletas... really you NEVER know.

Here's my OPEN letter to what I'm sure is a FINE establishment:

Dear Hotel Casa Caletas,

Hey CC, how's it going? I think that's enough pleasantries. First, is the owner of Casa Caletas Hotel, Sylvester Feichtinger? If not, is he connected to your hotel in ANYWAY, or any of the following businesses: Tico Resorts which oversees Lake Coter Eco Lodge in Nuevo Arenal, and Fuego del Sol Hotel near Playa Hermosa?

Are you aware of the problems concerning the above article? If so, what are you doing or NOT doing about it?

That's it Casa Caletas... for now.

Respond to, TravelCostaRicaNOW@gmail.com and I will publish your response with NO editing ( I promise) and then we can go from there. I will either issue a BLOG apology, or NOT. Obviously if I don't hear from you, I will proceed tying your hotel into the ABOVE issue.

I await your response.

For a BETTER Costa Rica,

michael alan

Don't worry Casa Caletas, I can wait... for awhile anyway. I'm not really a Tico Time type of guy though... just sayin.
Hey Everyone, we got TONS of Costa Rica Travel Information in our Travel Guide at Travel Costa Rica NOW and don't FORGET all our Costa Rica Travel Tip Videos, completely ORGANIZED so you can EASILY find what you're LOOKING for. ENjOY!

time to SPEAK-UP and do SOMETHING

Hotel Casa Caletas owner is Sylvester Feichtinger, president of Agropecuaria Caletas, this company is draining the wetlands of Caletas Ario National Wildlife Refuge, and this Leatherback and Olive Ridley Sea Turtles nesting site is at RISK.
In my last post, I wrote about Agropecuaria Caletas S.A., the fucks who continue to (ignoring a mandate) obliterate, annihilate, devastate and ‘drain’ the wetlands within the Caletas Ario National Wildlife Refuge, which was created to protect the olive ridley and leatherback sea turtles that nest there- Oh! and get this, ALL for the sake of planting a cornfield… a fuckin CORNFIELD. How SAD is that? Go to Pretoma's website for the full article.

But you know what’s VERY interesting?

The president of Agropecuaria Caletas S.A., is Sylvester Feichtinger who also owns a hotel on the Nicoya Peninsula called, Casa Caletas Hotel.

Okay, follow along, this is important:

Taken from the Casa Caletas and Tico Resorts website:

"Built in 1990, The Eco Lodge Hotel was the first lodge built in Latin America using an economic endowment from the World Bank. It was created as a pilot model for Latin America, and its mission was to preserve the environment and develop a true ecotourism program. To do this, among other things, Eco Lodge decided to keep 218 hectares of primary forest as a private reserve, becoming a pioneer in conservation and adventure sports in harmony with the ecosystem.
.
Today, Eco Lodge is a well known company that created Tico Resorts in order to manage the Casa Caletas Boutique Hotel, Eco Lodge and Fuego del Sol Hotels."

As of this writing, it’s not totally clear what this guy, Sylvester Feichtinger really owns or doesn’t own. Maybe he owns all 3 hotels as well as their parent company- Tico Resorts, although the irony WOULDN’T and COULDN’T go unnoticed if he was the owner of Eco Lodge, (full name, Lake Coter Eco Lodge), with its mission being, ‘…to preserve the environment and develop a true ecotourism program’. We’ll SEE about that, but he does own Casa Caletas Hotel. And it’s a good as place to START as any.

WE NEED TO APPLY PRESSURE in order for Sylverster Feichtinger or Agropecuaria Caletas, Tico Resorts or whoever, to STOP doing what they’re doing within the Caletas Ario National Wildlife Refuge- namely draining the WETLANDS for a fuckin cornfield and make whatever it IS they’ve already destroyed in the refuge, RIGHT again.

It’s all about getting the word OUT, and with social networking being what it IS; this is doable, even if you don’t have a ton of time to dedicate to the CAUSE- create a FaceBook, or MySpace page or maybe more importantly, since Tico’s utilize it big time, a hi5 page in both Spanish and English. I know many of you are on TWITTER, re-TWEET the Pretoma article… or mine for that matter- that can definitely get the WORD out in a hurry. Linking to Pretoma is a good bet; not ONLY the problems in Caletas Ario Refuge- Pretoma has TONS of articles and INFO about many of problems concerning the marine life in Costa Rica- which is very educational as well.

Obviously I would ask you NOT to do business with the above hotels, mainly Casa Caletas Hotel. E-mail them and tell them WHY you would NEVER stay there or send them business. Maybe Fuego del Sol Hotel in Playa Hermosa isn't AWARE of the current situation, but contacting them through e-mail or phone just MAY bring it to their ATTENTION. You might mention their could be a perception of GUILT through association... just sayin.

E-mail KIDS, it doesn’t take much time or effort to ‘cut and paste’

…and YOU TRAVEL AGENTS on TWITTER, I KNOW you have some CLOUT with your thousands of FOLLOWERS.

To CONTACT Casa Caletas Hotel, Fuego del Sol Hotel, or Lake Coter Eco Lodge by internet you basically have to use the same email address: reservaciones@ticoresorts.com

Casa Caletas Hotel-TOLL FREE (USA & CANADA) 1- 800- 850 4592
Phone in Costa Rica: (506) 289-6060 Fax: (506) 288-0123

Hotel Fuego del Sol- TOLL FREE (USA & CANADA) 1-800-850-4532
Phones in Costa Rica : (506) 2289-6060 / Fax : (506) 2288-0123 / Hotel : 2643-7171

The LINK to Lake Coter Eco Lodge isn't working for me, sorry.

Okay, this is just an OVERVIEW, there will be MUCH more INFO, suggestions etc, in the upcoming weeks. This is just a START.

'Sea turtle's already have a tough BEGINNING, but at least they have a place to START... don't let it disappear.'
BE the CHANGE YOU want in the WORLD, the sea turtles will thank-you for it.
Hey Everyone, we got TONS of Costa Rica Travel Information in our Travel Guide at Travel Costa Rica NOW and don't FORGET all our Costa Rica Travel Tip Videos, completely ORGANIZED so you can EASILY find what you're LOOKING for. ENjOY!

Another Company tells Costa Rica to F-Off

"HEY! Costa Rica, quit showing off and BITE'em already."
Costa Rica doesn't have an appearance problem, as a matter of fact, to the outside world they're June and Ward Cleaver, but they do have a BACKBONE problem. Read that as, they don't have ONE. But like I alluded to, you wouldn't necessarily know that unless you lived here.The story below is the reason I am often skeptical about the application, implementation and enforcement of ANY laws on the books in Costa Rica (the new driving laws INCLUDED).

This is the SHIT that pisses me off, did you read about this?

Agropecuaria Caletas S.A., has continued the destruction of wetlands within the Caletas Ario National Wildlife Refuge, created in 2006 to protect the olive ridley and leatherback sea turtles that nest there, in disregard of the mandates of the Environmental Tribune of the Ministry of Environment.

Last April, responding to a lawsuit filed by Pretoma against Agropecuaria Caletas S.A. for draining the wetlands of the Caletas Ario Wildlife Refuge, the Environmental Tribune ordered the farming company to halt all of its activities in and around this sensitive wetland. Last June, the Environmental Tribune ordered the company to pay $21,200 for damages caused therein (Resolución N° 390-09-TAA). The resolution came after officials observed how the company is, by design, draining, burning and thereby sucking the biological diversity out of a 150 hectare wetland that boarders Playa Caletas on the southern Nicoya Peninsula.

Video taken by Pretoma this past weekend shows how the court order and subsequent fines have done nothing to stop the company’s relentless efforts to drain and till under the wetland. “As a Costa Rican, it is quite upsetting to see Agropecuaria Caletas S.A.’s total disrespect of our Courts”, said Randall Arauz, President of Pretoma. “The foreign owner of Agropecuaria Caletas S.A. has not only ignored the fine, but he is openly challenging the Environmental Tribune’s authority, by continuing the destruction of the wetland without any apparent fear of legal reprisals”. (rest of the story HERE on Pretoma’s website).

If you ask me, it takes BALLS to basically tell the courts to “FUCK-off”, and the only reason I can think for doing so is because Agropecuaria Caletas doesn't believe there will be any REAL repercussions for their egregious acts.
So there it is, this FUCK ALL company, Agropecuaria Caletas, has said, “FUCK YOU!”

Now what?

Maybe a couple million in FINES, maybe they should be made to re-plant to the areas original landscape. How about the Costa Rican COURTS make an EXAMPLE of these fucks?

The ball is IN the Ministry of Environment’s COURT, and obviously Agropecuaria Caletas doesn’t believe they’ll hit it back. "Hey Ministry, how about an overhead SMASH?"

"Can you go for the JUGULAR in tennis?"

Costa Rica's laws need to develop some teeth, because I want to see some 'Agropecuaria Caletas' BLOOD. (no dogs were hurt by uploading this picture).
Please Costa Rica court system; prove me wrong when I say your BARK is often worse than your bite. Hell, the president of Agropecuaria Caletas is a foreigner, who better to make an example of….hehe.

We'll see what happens, or DOESN'T, soon enough.

As usual, it’s the folks at Pretoma doing all the grunt WORK in order to protect the sea-turtles and sharks. They’ve been at this stuff for quite awhile now and if it wasn’t for them… well, I’d hate to see Costa Rica without them. They do GREAT work and if you’re financially able, they’re a great organization to donate too. Check out the above Pretoma link and see for yourself all the GOOD work they do.

A few other articles about Costa Rica Perception and the TRUTH:

Costa Rica- it's just SAD- WASTE WATER and where it goes.
Costa Rica to Sea Turtles, "PISS OFF!"- De-certification of Costa Rica as a turtle friendly country.
Costa Rica- SLOW DOWN Overbuilding in Costa Rica.

It frustrates me this video doesn’t have more HITS, as it’s VERY educational concerning the plight of the sharks and sea turtles off the coast(s) of Costa Rica. It’s my interview with Pretoma’s president, Randall Arauz. And yeah, I’ve posted it numerous times, but in my mind, that could mean the DIFFERENCE. Please embed this VIDEO where appropriate to HELP get the word OUT. thanx.



Hey Everyone, we got TONS of Costa Rica Travel Information in our Travel Guide at Travel Costa Rica NOW and don't FORGET all our Costa Rica Travel Tip Videos, completely ORGANIZED so you can EASILY find what you're LOOKING for. ENjOY!

Costa Rica to Sea Turtles, "Piss OFF!"

Plight of the Sea Turtles- does Costa Rica give a F***?
Time and time again Costa Rica has shown it CANNOT Police itself and would rather wait until their hand is caught in the cookie jar… before actually enforcing their OWN laws to correct the problem. In this case- shrimp trawling and its effects on sea turtles. The United States stepped in and played the role of ‘Mother’- how embarrassing for Costa Rica… or is it? Here’s the latest:

“The United States decertified Costa Rica as a turtle friendly country (again) May 1. Margaret F. Hayes, acting deputy assistant secretary for oceans and fisheries for the United States, said that Costa Rican officials did not comply with their promise to take steps to sanction shrimp fishermen who do not use turtle excluder devices.”

The Punishment: The United States will not import Costa Rica shrimp for at least the next year. This is the 4th time since 1999 Costa Rica has been caught not enforcing their own laws- again, embarrassing, but VERY telling.

This is how it went down:

"In meetings with senior Costa Rican fisheries officials during the December 2008 certification visit, the State Department representative stressed that without rapid remedial action Costa Rica's certification might be compromised," she added. "Costa Rican officials were aware of the issue and promised to resolve it early in 2009. However, the United States Embassy in San Jose reports that since that December visit Costa Rican authorities have not taken all the action they promised."


*Before I continue I just want to SHOUT OUT to Randall Arauz and the folks at Pretoma (the organization for the preservation of sea turtles and sharks ) who I KNOW were instrumental in seeing this through. Keep up the GREAT work (it takes a village). BTW- they could really use your HELP, visit the link and find out how you can support Pretoma and help preserve the marine life that live off the waters of Costa Rica.

The remedy seems quite simple- Shrimp fishermen need to use turtle excluder devices, which are like trap doors built into shrimp trawl nets that let trapped turtles swim away… and for the ones that don’t use the device- LAWS need to be enforced. So, what’s the problem?

'You mention COST... you have no IDEA.'
Let’s BREAK this down: This is the 4th time in ten years Costa Rica has been caught not enforcing their own laws by the United States… again. HELLOOOOOOOOO.

The Costa Rican powers that be know what they’re doing, they can’t be this stupid, so I call, “BULLSHIT”. I’m thinking the Costa Rican government doesn’t really CARE what the United States does- the non-enforcement of these LAWS must be WORTH it on some LEVEL- there’s no other explanation. Think about it, if you knew for a FACT you were getting a supposed ‘severe’ consequence for your actions (because you’d gotten 3 previously), would you change your behavior? You’d be STUPID not too…unless the consequence didn’t really affect you as it was intended. And really, they KNOW and KNEW ‘Mother’ and the folks at Pretoma were watching them. They KNEW they’d be caught AGAIN. The consequence of not importing shrimp from Costa Rica must not be severe enough-

I say Follow the Money, it's BIGGER somewhere else.
It’s like giving a kid a consequence of, “No fruitcake for a week”- but the kid doesn’t like fruitcake to begin with. Something's amiss.

Randall Arauz told me the powers that BE in Costa Rica often attempt to circumvent their OWN laws in order to keep the money FLOWING into Costa Rica (he was talking about the practice of SHARK FINNING as it pertains to the relationship between Costa Rica and the Taiwanese government). I guarantee this is much BIGGER and more political than turtles and sharks.

Money is always the bottom line. Here’s a breakdown of the so-called LOSSES to Costa Rica:

‘Costa Rica has exported at least 20,000 pounds of premium shrimp a month to the United States. That is shrimp with a retail price of nearly $200,000, according to news files.’

I guess I’m jaded, but that just doesn’t seem like a high number to me in the realm of things.

And I hate to complicate things and throw a wrench in the spokes, but seriously, this entire story could be BULLSHIT. Even the United States could be in on it… it’s not like manipulating a ‘situation’ for a variety of reasons is foreign to our neighbor to the north…. just sayin.

Bottom Line:

Costa Rica doesn't seem to mind a little 'egg on their face' because obviously in the long term, 'someone' or 'something' is getting MORE than they're LOSING.... and egg wipes off.

Because if not, that would mean Costa Rica is STUPID…

Costa Rica isn’t STUPID are THEY?

I know I posted this a few days ago, but personally, if ONLY 1 more person sees this who hasn't already, then it's worth it, and that '1' just may be the DIFFERENCE. My Interview with the president of Pretoma, Randall Arauz:



Hey Everyone, we got TONS of Costa Rica Travel Information in our Travel Guide at Travel Costa Rica NOW and don't FORGET all our Costa Rica Travel Tip Videos, completely ORGANIZED so you can EASILY find what you're LOOKING for. ENjOY!

Saving the Sharks

Working with the Costa Rica Travel Channel and Travel Costa Rica Now, I have the opportunity to travel around Costa Rica and meet some truly remarkable people- often the one’s making a difference. Randall Arauz is one such person. Randall is president of PRETOMA, an organization whose mission is to protect and restore populations of marine turtles, sharks, and other threatened marine fauna, with a vision of responsible fishing and communal based conservation.

I got a chance to sit down and talk with Randall. Check out this video. Great Info. The mouth/sound combination is a 'tad' off, but nothing too annoying. Besides, this video is worth it.



If you're looking for a cause, this may be the ONE and they could use ALL the help they can get. I'm sure the sharks would thank you.

This video and hundreds more can be viewed at the Costa Rica Travel Channel and if you're looking for tons of information about Costa Rica, visit: Travel Costa Rica Now ENJOY!