# Conservation and Catch and Release in Costa Rica

> Costa Rica releases its sailfish, marlin and roosterfish because a live fish is worth far more to coastal towns than a dead one: sport fishing is valued at about 520 million US dollars a year. A 2023 study found sailfish numbers down 70 to 88% since 2011 as commercial longlining grew, so how anglers handle and release each fish, and what they push for, matters more than ever.

Source: https://sportfishing-costarica.com/costa-rica-fishing-conservation/
Last checked: 2026-11-14
Released by law: Sailfish, blue, black and striped marlin, roosterfish, tarpon
Value of sport fishing: About 520 million US dollars a year and 33,000 jobs (FECOP, 2026)
Visiting anglers: More than 150,000 a year (FECOP, 2026)
Sailfish trend: Peak-season numbers down about 70% (south) and 42 to 88% (central Pacific) since 2011
Lead group: FECOP, the Costa Rican Sport Fishing Federation
Protected sea: About 30% of Costa Rica's waters, after the 2021 Cocos expansion
Best tools for release: Circle hooks, a dehooker, a wet towel, and patience at the boat

## The short answer

Costa Rica releases its sailfish, marlin, roosterfish and tarpon because a live fish keeps paying. Visiting anglers fly in, hire boats, sleep in hotels and eat in local restaurants, and the same fish can be caught and released again next week. FECOP, the national sport fishing federation, puts the whole industry at about 520 million US dollars a year and around 33,000 jobs.

The catch is that release on its own isn't enough. Peer-reviewed research published in 2023 found that sailfish numbers off the central and southern Pacific had fallen sharply since 2011, mostly because commercial longline landings had doubled. So conservation here is two jobs at once: handling every fish so it survives, and backing the science and the policy that keep fish in the water to begin with.

This guide covers both. For the legal side (licences, release laws, no-take parks), see our [fishing rules guide](/costa-rica-fishing-rules/).

## Why billfish are released

There are three reasons, and they reinforce each other.

**The law.** Since 2005 the sailfish, blue, black and striped marlin and the tarpon have been "species of tourist and sport-fishing interest" under the fisheries law, and in 2014 INCOPESCA added the roosterfish. All are fished catch and release, billfish and tarpon stay in the water, and circle hooks are compulsory with natural bait.

**The money.** A fish that's released is worth more than one that's sold. The first big study, done by the University of Costa Rica for The Billfish Foundation with methods from Southwick Associates and published in 2010, estimated that North American anglers who came to fish in 2008 contributed about 599 million US dollars to Costa Rica's economy, roughly 2% of GDP. It found that sport fishing contributed about 70 million US dollars more than commercial fishing for the same species.

**The fish.** Billfish grow slowly, travel huge distances and are caught in big numbers by industrial gear across the eastern Pacific. The IUCN lists the sailfish as Vulnerable. Releasing a fish in good shape is the one part of that story an angler controls.

![A Pacific sailfish swimming away into deep blue water, its tall sail running the whole length of its back, lit by warm late-afternoon light](/static/img/con-sailfish-free-800.webp)

## What sport fishing is worth today

The numbers have been measured three times, and they keep coming out large.

| Study | Year | What it found |
|---|---|---|
| University of Costa Rica for The Billfish Foundation (Southwick Associates methods) | 2010 | About 599 million US dollars from visiting North American anglers in 2008, about 2% of GDP, and more than commercial fishing for the same species |
| FECOP study led by sociologist Henry Marín, fieldwork in Herradura, Quepos, Golfito, Puerto Jiménez, Flamingo, Playas del Coco and Tamarindo | 2019 | Nearly 500 million US dollars a year, about 13% of tourism income, from 150,000 to 200,000 fishing visitors |
| FECOP national roadmap for tourist and sport fishing | 2026 | About 520 million US dollars a year, more than 150,000 international visitors, about 33,000 jobs |

MarViva's 2023 guide adds a detail that matters to coastal towns: a 2019 study by Cascante and Marín found that a family with one member working in the sport fishing value chain earns up to 45% more than families with no link to it.

The 2026 roadmap was the result of two years of meetings with fishing communities on both coasts, from Guanacaste and Puntarenas to Golfito, Puerto Jiménez, Limón and the northern Caribbean. It isn't a law, but it sets out what the sector wants: better coordination with government, more sustainable use of the sea, and a real voice for coastal communities in decisions about it. A 2025 civic report had pointed out that the government's new 2025 to 2030 national fisheries plan left sport fishing out.

## Sailfish under pressure

### The 2023 decline study

In January 2023, *Frontiers in Marine Science* published a study by Marina Marrari, Johel Chaves-Campos, Moisés Mug, Damián Martínez-Fernández, Henry Marín and Todd Staley that used sport fishing logbooks as a measure of how many sailfish were around. The data came from charter boats in Golfo Dulce (2011 to 2022), a boat and a long-running tournament in Herradura, and boats in Quepos, set against INCOPESCA's commercial landings and satellite data on where longliners fish.

![A round orange longline float bobbing on deep blue water with a line trailing down into the sea](/static/img/con-longline-float-800.webp)

What they found:

- Peak-season sailfish numbers fell by about 70% in the southern Pacific since 2011, and by about 42 to 88% across the central Pacific datasets.
- Commercial longline landings of sailfish rose by about 108% between 2010 and 2019.
- Longline effort was concentrated 30 to 60 miles offshore, right on top of the sport fleet's grounds.
- Their models found commercial fishing had a significant negative effect on sailfish abundance, with water temperature also playing a part.

The authors pointed out that, unlike its neighbours, Costa Rica still lets billfish be landed and sold as seafood, and they called for protection measures, an updated regional stock assessment and a national data programme.

### Before and after

The study didn't come out of nowhere. In 2021 FECOP estimated that 16,000 or more sailfish die each year on commercial lines, and asked INCOPESCA to ban sailfish sales, saying release rates had fallen 64% in a decade while commercial kills rose 126%. A 2023 INCOPESCA ruling cut the incidental sailfish allowance on commercial boats from 15% to 10% of a trip's catch, but a bill to end sailfish sales altogether was voted down in committee in September 2024.

In December 2025 a further FECOP analysis of 2011 to 2023 sport fishing data found sailfish catch per trip down 45 to 65%, tied mainly to rising commercial landings, while marlin catches held steady and yellowfin tuna and dorado rose. And in June 2026, at the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission's scientific committee, a proposal backed by FECOP and the regional alliance CASA led to a recommendation for a billfish data and stock-assessment work plan, the first billfish-specific step there in years. Our [sailfish page](/the-pacific-sailfish/) and [seasons guide](/costa-rica-fishing-seasons/) cover where and when to find them.

## Tagging studies: following fish after release

Every tag that goes on a Costa Rican fish answers a question someone couldn't answer from the dock. There are two kinds. Conventional tags are small numbered darts: if the fish is caught again, the new captor reports where. Satellite tags (often "pop-up" tags, or PSATs) record depth, light and temperature, then release from the fish on a set date, float up and send their data home.

### Sailfish

Between June 2008 and June 2009, researchers fitted satellite transmitters to 9 sailfish caught from recreational boats off Costa Rica. The results, published in *Frontiers in Fish Science* in January 2025, tracked 6 of them. They travelled between about 340 and 986 km from where they were tagged, crossing the waters of 6 countries and the high seas, and dived deeper on average during the upwelling season, down to a deepest recorded 256 m. That's the core argument for regional management: a "Costa Rican" sailfish isn't only Costa Rica's.

Charter crews do a lot of the routine work. In 2017 the Tico Times followed a University of Costa Rica student on a southern Pacific charter as the crew tagged a sailfish and took a small tissue sample before release, part of a FECOP and Gray FishTag Research project on what sport fish eat. She'd gathered nearly 800 samples by then.

### Roosterfish

[Roosterfish](/roosterfish-the-majestic-fish-of-costa-rica/) were thought to be fairly local, homebody fish. In 2018 Gray FishTag Research and FECOP tagged roosterfish off Quepos, some with satellite tags funded by local sponsors and staff at [Marina Pez Vela](/marina-pez-vela-a-luxurious-getaway/). One tag popped up and was found near Paquera, and one fish swam a few hundred miles to Nicaragua in less than a month, far more than anyone expected. Channel 7's national news aired a special on the study in 2019, with the message that roosterfish, like sailfish, are worth more alive.

### Blue marlin

![A large blue marlin with a cobalt back and pale vertical stripes swimming fast through clear deep blue water in shafts of sunlight](/static/img/con-blue-marlin-800.webp)

In July 2019 a Gray FishTag expedition from Los Sueños put 3 satellite tags on blue marlin over a seamount about 80 miles offshore, to see whether the marlin caught out there in the rainy season are the same fish that show up inshore in December and January. The same year, Stanford University's Project DynaMAR, working from the [Zancudo Lodge](/zancudo-fishing-lodge/) near Golfito in its off-season, tagged 22 blue marlin and 14 sailfish to link their movements to ocean conditions in the Central American Pacific.

If you'd like to tag on your trip, ask your operator before you book whether they carry conventional tags and report them. Many of the bigger fleets do.

## FECOP and the people behind the push

FECOP (Federación Costarricense de Pesca) is the federation that speaks for sport and tourist fishing in Costa Rica, and its name is on most of the studies above. Its executive director in 2026 is marine scientist Marina Marrari, and its conservation and public policy director is Damián Martínez-Fernández. Longtime communications director Todd Staley received an IGFA conservation award in 2022 for decades of work on billfish and fisheries reform.

![A school of yellowfin tuna with bright yellow fins swimming through clear blue water](/static/img/con-yellowfin-school-800.webp)

Its work goes well beyond studies:

- **Tuna.** FECOP pushed for years to move foreign tuna purse seiners away from the coast, from a 2014 decree to Law 10304 of 2022, which keeps large seiners out of the first 80 nautical miles. In 2016 it reported better catches of billfish, dorado and tuna for small boats after the first decree.
- **Enforcement.** In 2025 FECOP ran the fourth edition of a course training judges, prosecutors and the Coast Guard to detect and prosecute illegal fishing.
- **Communities.** When the pandemic closed the borders in March 2020, FECOP and partners delivered about 1,000 food baskets to captains, mates and fishing families.
- **The region.** FECOP is part of CASA, the Central American Sportfishing Alliance, which expanded its billfish campaign in 2025.

## Marine protected areas

![A spotted eagle ray with a dark back covered in white spots gliding through clear blue water](/static/img/con-eagle-ray-800.webp)

No-take parks and reserves work as fish nurseries. Fish grow up and breed inside them, then spill over into the water outside where boats can fish. Costa Rica has no-take marine parks and reserves on both coasts, from the Bat Islands and Cabo Blanco to Manuel Antonio, Ballena, Caño Island and Cahuita; our [rules guide](/costa-rica-fishing-rules/) lists them.

The biggest is [Cocos Island](/cocos-island-costa-rica/). In December 2021 Costa Rica grew Cocos Island National Park about 27-fold, to roughly 54,800 square kilometres, and created the much larger Bicentennial Marine Management Area around it, where some fishing is regulated. That took the country to about 30% of its seas protected, a figure it presented at the UN Ocean Conference in 2025. Policing that much ocean is hard, but there's progress: satellite data from Global Fishing Watch showed almost no fishing inside the park in mid-2024, and the environment ministry later reported a 98.9% drop in illegal fishing activity there compared with 2023.

Sport fishing groups haven't always agreed with how parks are drawn. In 2017 FECOP and artisanal groups opposed a proposed reserve they felt would hurt small fishers without touching industrial fleets, and in 2021 fishers and environmental groups argued over the Cocos plan. The common ground is that protected areas only work if they're enforced, and if the people who fish around them have a stake.

## Sharks

![Scalloped hammerhead sharks swimming among schooling fish off Cocos Island](/static/img/con-hammerheads-cocos-800.webp "Photo: [Scalloped hammerheads at Cocos Island](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scalloped_hammerhead_cocos.jpg) by Barry Peters, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons")

Costa Rica's waters, especially around Cocos and in Golfo Dulce, are famous for hammerheads. Since 2023 catching, keeping and selling all 3 hammerhead species has been banned, and in May 2026 the environment ministry and SINAC were designing a scheme to pay fishers who release hammerheads caught by accident, modelled on payments already made to mangrove shellfish gatherers.

The wider picture is less rosy. In July 2026 the CITES Animals Committee looked at a possible review of Costa Rica's silky shark trade after a report found the country supplies most of the world's silky shark exports. For anglers the message is short: release every shark, keep it in the water, and cut the leader close if the hook is deep.

## How to handle and release a fish

![A long-handled stainless dehooker and a pair of fishing pliers on a wet white boat deck](/static/img/con-dehooker-800.webp)

MarViva's 2023 best-practices guide, written with Costa Rican crews, sums up what gives a released fish its best chance. Your mate will do most of this, but it helps to know what good looks like.

1. **Use the right tackle.** Line and rod matched to the fish shorten the fight, and a shorter fight means less stress and better survival.
2. **Fight it firmly.** Unless you're chasing a record, bring the fish in steadily. The captain can back the boat toward the fish to cut the time.
3. **Keep billfish in the water.** It's the law for sailfish and marlin, and it's the best practice for big fish of any kind. Don't let the fish bang against the hull, rocks or sand.
4. **Handle with care.** If a fish has to come out, keep it brief, use wet hands or soft non-abrasive gloves, support its body, and keep fingers out of the gills. Sunscreen on your hands can harm the fish's protective slime.
5. **Use a dehooker.** Pliers or a dehooker get the hook out fast. If the hook is swallowed, cut the line close: the fish survives better than if you dig for it.
6. **Revive it.** Hold the fish facing into the water with it moving forward so water passes over the gills for a few seconds, ideally close to where it was caught, until it kicks away on its own.
7. **Watch for predators.** A tired fish released among sharks may not make it. Give it a moment to recover first.

MarViva reports that in a 2019 survey of Costa Rican crews, about 95% said they release the protected species and help fish recover in the water, and about 92% said they use circle hooks.

## Circle hooks

![Three stainless steel circle hooks in different sizes lying on a weathered wooden table in warm light](/static/img/con-circle-hooks-800.webp)

A circle hook's point curves back toward the shank. When a fish swallows the bait and swims off, the hook slides out of the throat and turns into the corner of the jaw instead of catching the gut or gills. MarViva's guide cites research showing circle hooks cause fewer injuries than traditional J-hooks and largely avoid deep hooking.

In Costa Rica they're compulsory whenever you fish natural bait for billfish and the other release species, under the regulation of the fisheries law and INCOPESCA's 2014 release agreement. They aren't required for fly fishing or trolling artificial lures. Two more tips from the same guide: barbless hooks make release quicker and are linked to lower mortality, and stainless steel hooks do less harm if one has to be left in a fish. You'll still need to change how you strike: with a circle hook, don't jerk. Let the line come tight and the fish hook itself. Our [techniques guide](/costa-rica-fishing-techniques/) covers this.

## Community and artisanal fishers

Sport fishing and small-scale commercial fishing share the same coast, and often the same families. Many captains started on artisanal boats, and many mates still fish commercially in the off-season.

![Fishermen casting rods from a sandy bank of the Tárcoles River in Costa Rica](/static/img/con-tarcoles-anglers-800.webp "Photo: [Fishermen on the Tárcoles River](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fishermen_with_fishing_rods_on_the_banks_of_the_Tarcoles_River_in_Costa_Rica_(1).jpg) by Hanay, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons")

Costa Rica's answer for small-scale fishers is the **Marine Area for Responsible Fishing**: zones where INCOPESCA and a local fishing community agree a fishing plan together. There's a cluster in the Gulf of Nicoya and others at Tárcoles, San Juanillo, Dominicalito, Golfo Dulce and Barra del Colorado, and sport fishing is allowed in some of them under their plans. They don't fix everything. In 2019 reporting from the Gulf of Nicoya described illegal nets and overfishing hurting fishing families there, and in 2021 southern captains reported 10 to 15 longliners at a time using live bait inside Golfo Dulce's protected fishing area.

In June 2026 a bill (file 25,620) was filed in Congress to let artisanal fishers hold a dual licence so they can also take tourists fishing, a way to earn more from fewer fish. It was still a bill when we checked.

::: triptych "From the working coast"
![A commercial fishing boat working the Gulf of Nicoya off Puntarenas](/static/img/con-puntarenas-boat-800.webp "Photo: [Fishing boat in Puntarenas](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pesquero._Puntarenas._Costa_Rica.JPG) by Rodtico21, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons")
![A hand-painted wooden trolling lure with a glossy blue and silver finish resting on a piece of driftwood](/static/img/con-wooden-lure-800.webp)
![Small unmarked wooden fishing boats pulled up on a dark sand beach at sunrise with calm sea behind](/static/img/con-beach-boats-800.webp)
:::

### Coope Brujas del Mar: from shrimp peeling to lure making

One of the best stories on the coast comes from Puntarenas. When shrimp trawling ended (the last trawling licence expired in 2019), the women who peeled shrimp for the trawl fleet lost their work. FECOP proposed training them through INCOPESCA, three American trainers taught the first course, and the group formed a self-managed cooperative, **Coope Brujas del Mar** ("Sea Witches"), led by Flor Rivera.

The cooperative, in Bellavista de Puntarenas, makes handmade wooden sportfishing lures from recycled wood, including driftwood from local beaches and offcuts from cabinetmakers. Each lure is shaped, sanded, weighted and hand-painted, and carries the Costa Rican Tourism Institute's artisan seal. FECOP reported 14 people working there in 2023, 12 women and 2 men. The lures are sold through marina shops in Puntarenas, Quepos and Herradura, and since 2023 have been exported to the United States through the tackle company El Jefe Tackle Co. If you see them in a marina shop, they make a better souvenir than a T-shirt. Our [bait and tackle guide](/costa-rica-bait-and-tackle/) lists where to shop.

## What anglers can do

![A brown booby with a dark brown head and white belly gliding low over deep blue water in golden light](/static/img/con-brown-booby-800.webp)

- **Fish with crews who release well.** Ask how they handle billfish, whether they use circle hooks, and whether they tag. Good operators are proud to explain.
- **Keep only what you'll eat.** The legal limit is 5 fish per trip; many anglers keep one or two dorado or tuna and release the rest.
- **Don't eat sailfish.** If a restaurant or market offers "pez vela", it came off a commercial line. Skip it.
- **Tag and report.** Tags only help if recaptures are reported. If you catch a tagged fish, note the number, the position and the size, and report it to the tag's programme.
- **Report illegal fishing.** Longlines inside the gulfs, nets in a park, or fishing inside a reserve can be reported to INCOPESCA or SINAC; a time, a position and a photo help most. Our [rules guide](/costa-rica-fishing-rules/) explains how.
- **Spend locally.** Hire local captains, sleep and eat in fishing towns, and buy local tackle. That's the economic case for live fish, made real.
- **Support the groups doing the work.** FECOP, MarViva and the tagging programmes depend on anglers and crews for data and support.

Our zone guides for [Guanacaste](/guanacaste-fishing-guide/), the [Nicoya Peninsula](/nicoya-peninsula-fishing-guide/), the [Central Pacific](/central-pacific-fishing-guide/), the [Southern Pacific](/southern-pacific-fishing-guide/) and the [Caribbean](/caribbean-fishing-guide/) cover the protected areas and fleets coast by coast, and our [species guide](/costa-rica-fish-species-guide/) covers the fish.

## Frequently asked questions

### Why are sailfish released in Costa Rica?

They're protected as a species of tourist and sport interest under the fisheries law, so sport anglers must release them. A live sailfish is also worth far more to coastal towns as a fish that can be caught again than as seafood.

### Do released billfish survive?

Most do when they're handled well: a short fight, a circle hook in the jaw, kept in the water and revived before release. Satellite tags on sailfish caught off Costa Rica have tracked them hundreds of kilometres after release.

### Are sailfish numbers falling in Costa Rica?

Yes. A 2023 peer-reviewed study found peak-season sailfish numbers down about 70% in the southern Pacific and 42 to 88% in the central Pacific since 2011, linked mainly to rising commercial longline catches.

### What is FECOP?

FECOP is the Costa Rican Sport Fishing Federation. It runs and funds research, campaigns on tuna, sailfish and illegal fishing, and speaks for the sport and tourist fishing sector.

### How much is sport fishing worth to Costa Rica?

FECOP's 2026 roadmap puts it at about 520 million US dollars a year and about 33,000 jobs, with more than 150,000 international anglers visiting each year.

### Why are circle hooks required?

With natural bait, circle hooks usually catch the corner of the jaw instead of the throat or gut, so the fish survives release better. They're compulsory for billfish and the other release species when natural bait is used.

### What is Coope Brujas del Mar?

It's a cooperative of former shrimp peelers in Puntarenas, mostly women, who make handmade wooden sportfishing lures from recycled wood. FECOP and INCOPESCA helped train them, and their lures are sold in marina shops and exported to the US.

### Can I tag a fish on my charter?

Often, yes. Ask your operator before you book whether they carry conventional tags and report them to a tagging programme such as Gray FishTag Research.