Shark meat is one of the most widely consumed seafood in Costa Rica, but the animal's fins are even more valuable. Typically, fishermen rip the fins from sharks and throw the carcasses back into the sea, since only a few boats have the equipment needed to freeze and store the meat. Shark meat spoils quickly, while fins can be tossed aside onto bloody stacks. Sharks grow and mature slowly, making them particularly vulnerable to overfishing. Some species don't reproduce until they are 12.
Females have long gestation periods and give birth to just a few young.
If the sharks and other fish species disappear from Cocos, so will the tourists. Fishing pressure on Cocos may increase, though, if Costa Rica imposes a proposed ban on fishing in the Pacific Coast's Gulf of Nicoya, where the catch has declined more than 50 percent since 1985. If fishermen are banished from the gulf, Cocos may be their next stop. Sancho believes that an education campaign aimed at Pacific Coast fishermen is an important next step for the group. The problem is that they have no economic alternative.