How to Get a Costa Rica Fishing Licence, Step by Step

The short answer

Costa Rica's sport fishing licence (the "carné") is sold by INCOPESCA, the national fisheries institute, and the easiest way to get one is on its own website. It takes about as long as booking a restaurant: you add each angler's name, passport number, email and country, choose the licence and its start date, pay by Visa or Mastercard and save the final receipt. That receipt is your licence.

This guide walks through it one screen at a time, and covers the bits people trip over: kids, start dates, licences bought by your charter, and the second permit you'll need in a couple of river refuges. For the rules that come with the licence (what you release, what you can keep, where you can't fish), see our complete guide to Costa Rica's fishing rules.

Who needs a licence

Article 75 of the Fisheries Law (Ley 8436) says the crew and everyone who sport fishes from a boat, or underwater, must carry an INCOPESCA sport fishing carné. It's personal. A couple who both want to hold a rod need 2 licences, and the boat's own permits don't cover you.

Which licence to buy

These are the sport fishing licences INCOPESCA lists, and who its pages say can buy each one. We don't quote fees, because INCOPESCA's board sets them and they change; the online form shows the current amount when you choose.

The same boat licence covers the sea and inland waters, so it works on Lake Arenal as well as off Quepos.

Before you start: what you'll need

Have these ready before you open the form, for every person you're buying for:

• First name and last name, exactly as on the passport.
• Passport number (or a Costa Rican cédula for residents). Type it carefully, with no spaces.
• An email address. One email can be used for a whole family.
• Country of the passport.
• The start date of the licence, in day/month/year order (31/01/2026 style).
• A Visa or Mastercard, credit or debit. INCOPESCA's terms say cards issued in any currency, by any bank in the world, are accepted.
• A way to keep the receipt: a printer, or somewhere safe on your phone.

The online form doesn't ask for a photo. FECOP, Costa Rica's sport fishing federation, says month and year licences need a passport-size photo and a copy of your ID, which applies when you apply at an office.

Step by step on INCOPESCA's website

1. Go to the official site

Open incopesca.go.cr and click "Sport Fishing License here" at the top of the page (the Spanish button beside it says "Pesca Deportiva Carné aquí"). That takes you to a page that asks you to choose English or Spanish, with a warning in both languages to read the instructions and print the final receipt at the end. Choose English and you'll land on "Request for sport fishing card".

2. Add the first applicant

Under "Step 1. Add applicant", press the button to open the applicant form. It has 7 boxes:

1. Effective start date
2. Name
3. Last name
4. Identification or passport number
5. Email
6. Country (a long list, in Spanish, so the US is "Estados Unidos" and Germany is "Alemania")
7. Type of fishing card (boat for 8 days, 30 days or 1 year; underwater for 1 year; land or kayak for 1 year)

The form checks the date format and the email as you go, and refuses an email with a space in it.

3. Add everyone else

Each applicant you add goes onto the "List added request". Add the rest of your group the same way, one at a time. Check every name and passport number in the list before you pay, because nothing can be fixed afterwards.

4. Read the terms and pay

The terms and conditions are short, and they're worth a minute. They say payment is by Visa or Mastercard through a secure card system, that INCOPESCA can't be held responsible for unfinished payments, so you must press the CONFIRM button, and that payment is only confirmed if your card is accepted.

5. Save the final receipt

When the payment goes through, print or save the final receipt for each angler. INCOPESCA tells applicants specifically to make sure they print it, and the terms say your licence is valid for the dates shown on that document. If you're buying for a group, send each person their own copy.

Getting the dates right

The start date matters more than anything else on the form, because INCOPESCA's terms are strict:

• The licence is in one person's name and can't be transferred.
• Its dates are the ones on the printed receipt and can't be changed or moved to another period.
• There are no refunds, including if you don't fish during the dates you picked, or if you pay for someone else by mistake.

So set the start date to your first fishing day, not your arrival day, and check that the end date on the receipt covers your last one. If your first and last fishing days are more than a week apart, a 30-day licence is the safer fit. If your trip might be cancelled by weather (the Papagayo winds can blow out a day in the dry season), there's no harm in buying a day or two before you leave rather than months ahead.

Letting your charter or lodge buy it

Many charters and fishing lodges will buy the licence for you. FECOP says operators and captains can get personal 8-day licences ahead of time, and some freshwater guides on Lake Arenal include the licence in the trip. If you go this way:

• Send your full name, passport number and country a few days before the trip, exactly as on the passport.
• Ask for a copy of each receipt by email or WhatsApp before you board.
• Check whether the trip price includes the licence or adds it, so there are no surprises.
• If the operator says "you don't need one, you're covered by the boat", that's not what the law says. The boat licence and the crew's carnés don't cover the anglers.

Our trip planning guide has more questions worth asking before you book a boat.

Buying in person

INCOPESCA has its head office in Puntarenas (Barrio El Cocal, next to the UNED, weekdays 8 am to 4 pm, phone 2630 0600) and regional offices in San José (at the agriculture ministry in Sabana Sur), Cuajiniquil, Playas del Coco, Nicoya, Herradura (at Marina Los Sueños), Quepos (100 m south of the dock, next to the Coast Guard station), Golfito, Limón and Ciudad Quesada.

In practice there's little reason to queue. Since the pandemic, INCOPESCA's licence page says its regional offices handle these requests through the website. If you're stuck, for example with a card that won't go through, the Quepos and Herradura offices sit right where many charters leave, and staff there can point you in the right direction.

On the water

Carry your licence every day you fish: a printout in a zip bag, or the PDF on your phone with the screen brightness up. The Coast Guard (Servicio Nacional de Guardacostas) boards sport fishing boats, and INCOPESCA inspectors check them in port. In November 2026 Coast Guard officers from Quepos stopped a paid fishing tour off Dominical: the captain had no fishing licence, none of the 6 people aboard had a carné, and the catch held undersized fish and more than the legal limit. The boat, its gear and the catch were seized, which is a good reminder to carry your own licence and fish with a properly licensed crew.

The Fisheries Law fines boats that don't carry their licence papers on board (article 152), and the boat's captain answers for fishing without the boat's licence (article 136). Your own carné is the part you control.

Watch out for lookalike websites

Search "Costa Rica fishing licence" and you'll find sites that describe the process, some with "verified" fees or an "apply here" button. Only buy on incopesca.go.cr (the ".go.cr" is Costa Rica's government domain), or through a charter or lodge you've booked with. If a site isn't INCOPESCA's own, don't type your card or passport number into it.

Other permits you might need

The INCOPESCA licence is the only one you need on most sea trips. A few places add their own:

Before you fly: a quick checklist

• Buy the licence on incopesca.go.cr, or get a written yes from your operator that they will.
• One licence per angler, kids included.
• Start date on your first fishing day, length long enough to cover your last.
• Names and passport numbers exactly as on the passport.
• Press CONFIRM, then save and print every final receipt.
• Fishing a river refuge? Ask about the SINAC permit too.

The rest of the rules (releases, the 5-fish limit, sharks and closed seasons) are in our complete Costa Rica fishing rules guide.