Just over a year ago, Costa Rica won warm praise from environmentalists when it enacted a law to rein in the lucrative shark-fin trade, which has devastated world shark populations. Now, however, environmentalists say the agency charged with implementing the law is working harder for hungry Asian shark-fin consumers than for the embattled kings of the marine food chain. At issue is an effort by that agency, the Costa Rican Fishing and Fish Farming Institute (Incopesca), to test the meaning of a key word in the law—adherir, which means to adhere. Under the law, enacted by the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly in February of last year, shark fishing only is allowed if the sharks are landed “with their respective fins adhered” to... [Log in to read more]