­RANDALL ARAUZ

The battle to stop shark finning in Costa Rica has taken several twists since December 1st 2010 shortly after receiving the Gothenburg Award for Sustainable Development,” explains Randall Arauz.

After this date foreign fleets were obligated to abide by Costa Rican law and land their products in public docks and were banned from using their private docks, a situation that had facilitated shark finning. However, that didn’t stop shark finning interests and now shark fins are shifted onto other ships out at sea, imported via Nicaragua, and land attached to spines.

“The Gothenburg Award has helped strengthen our credibility, especially among high ranking officers,” says Arauz. Pretoma is working closely with the Ministry of Environment to ban shark fin imports, supported by thousands of Costa Rican citizens. The campaign has enjoyed so much support that Mr. Arauz recently met with the President of Costa Rica to discuss shark conservation needs. As a result of the meeting, the President has agreed to form a Presidential Commission to investigate the government institution charged with fisheries, Incopesca. Pretoma with Randall hope to attain major political changes in 2012-2013.

Randall Arauz shared the Gothenburg Award for Sustainability with Ken Sherman in 2010. He received the prize for his tireless struggle to save sharks by banning shark finning in Costa Rica.