After three months of requesting data from the Costa Rican Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture (INCOPESCA) on the research project: “New alternatives for responsible deepwater shrimp fishing in the Costa Rican Pacific Ocean”, the MarViva Foundation will finally receive the information, thanks to a resolution of the Constitutional Court.

In October of 2023, MarViva sent a request for information to this institution, requesting access to the methodology used to estimate the total percentage of shrimp per fishing set, used to support a progress report on the research presented to the Board of Directors of Incopesca last year. The database of information used to generate the report was also requested in Excel format. Given Incopesca’s refusal to provide access to such information, MarViva filed an appeal for protection (writ of amparo) before the Constitutional Court, which was unanimously declared admissible.

The ruling indicates that since the information in question is of public interest, INCOPESCA is violating the right of petition established in Article 27 of the Constitution. The Court also recognized the role of MarViva and any other interested organization or person to exercise their right to oversee the actions of the Public Administration. This right implies, in this case, the duty of INCOPESCA to investigate transparently. For this reason, the Court agreed with MarViva and ordered INCOPESCA to provide the requested information within five working days.

“The Constitutional Court agrees with us that the information used by INCOPESCA to support the progress report on the trawling investigation is information of evident public interest, and there is no reason justifying its restricted access. Much less, considering that the data we are requesting is information that should have already been processed and analyzed by INCOPESCA since it was used to back up, in its progress report, that the investigation shows favorable results.  Additionally, this ruling shows that transparency and access to public information are pillars of the Costa Rican democracy. From MarViva, we insist that transparency, access to information, and timely public participation are indispensable elements to advance towards good governance of our ocean and its resources”, said Katherine Arroyo Arce, executive director of the MarViva Foundation.