Outdoors, action and adventure

Costa Rica anglers harassed--again--by commercial seiners

Earl Engel was celebrating his first capture and release of a sailfish off Costa Rica when trouble materialized in the form of an 180-foot commercial fishing vessel, and a helicopter whose crew was said to have dropped small bombs that caused Engel and his fellow anglers to fear for their lives.

The anglers, aboard a 45-foot yacht named Silver-Rod-O, faced a double assault: The crew of the Venezuelan purse-seiner (pictured) threatened to plow over the yacht, but decided instead to encircle the vessel with its net.

"Several explosives landed within 50 meters of the boat," Gary Carter, the yacht's owner, said of the recent incident, which prompted an outcry from a Florida-based fisheries conservation organization and an investigation ordered this week by Costa Rica President Laura Chinchilla.

The anglers were able to flee and return unharmed to the Costa Rican port of Garza. But the incident is troubling because it's not isolated. It has happened twice to Carter, who lives in Duluth, Ga., but keeps his boat in Costa Rica, and it has happened at least nine times to other sportfishing captains during the past two years off the west coast of the Central American nation.

"The Costa Rican government has to do something to show these foreign seiners that this sort of behavior will not be tolerated before someone gets injured or killed out there," said Joan Vernon, a board member for The Billfish Foundation, which filed the complaint to Chinchilla and also notified the U.S.  Ambassador to Costa Rica.

These incidents have typically involved foreign-registered seiners licensed to fish in Costa Rican waters.  Their crews, like those who operate sportfishing yachts, are looking for dolphins, which often travel with tuna and other game fish.

If large schools of fish are present and if sportfishermen are in the way, the seiners will try to force them to leave so the nets can be deployed.

The explosive devices are "tuna bombs" dropped around the schooling fish -- usually yellowfin tuna -- to contain them in a small area, while a seine net is set around the school. The bombs are illegal in Costa Rica but apparently are still used by some commercial fishing fleets.

Chinchilla said Tuesday that she has ordered a probe into the Aug. 1 incident.

Carter said the previous encounter he had with seiners was on July 31, 2008.  A guest was fighting a large tuna when the seiner Lautaro arrived and deployed a helicopter to make close sweeps and try to force the yacht off the tuna school.

While the guest was struggling to land the tuna, Carter said, "the seiner dropped its net to fully encircle us. About 45 minutes later, my guest landed the tuna and the Lautaro refused to let us out of the net for well over an additional hour."

Carter said explosive devices were not used in the 2008 incident. Of the more recent incident, when asked how loud and powerful the bombs were, Carter answered:

"I cannot say how powerful the incendiary devices are. With all of the noise from my boat and of the tuna seiner with its speed boats, and the helicopter, it was not possible to hear a blast. We could only see the smoke billowing from the water wherever they hit."

The Billfish Foundation, a nonprofit group that works with governments around the world to try to conserve billfish populations, has been trying to persuade Costa Rica, one of the world's premier sportfishing destinations, to take a tougher stance on commercial fishing.

The group recently completed a study that found sportfishing-related tourism generates $599 million annually for the Costa Rican economy.

"If Costa Rica won't address this sort of outrage and also take better care of the marine resources like sailfish and marlin that drive this economic engine, they will find people moving elsewhere and taking their money with them," said Ellen Peel, president of the Billfish Foundation.

Peel noted that Costa Rica's southern neighbor, Panama, recently outlawed purse seining within 200 miles of its coast. Guatemala, which is to the north of Costa Rica, does not allow seiners inside of 110 miles.

-- Pete Thomas

Photos of the Venezuelan seiner and helicopter used to harass those aboard the Silver-Rod-O courtesy of Gary Carter

Dominica's 'Whale Whisperer' shares remarkable story

Andrew Armour, who runs Kubuli Watersports on the Caribbean island of Dominica, has been called the "Whale Whisperer" because of his ability to communicate with sperm whales, particularly a young male named "Scar."

"Once I'm in the water I try to reach them acoustically by making this noise in the water, and it's the same noise all the time so they know it's me," he says. "So I'm talking to them all the time in the water, and they start coming."

To be sure, had Herman Melville been to Dominica and swum with its whales, he might have had trouble finding the inspiration to write the classic novel, "Moby Dick."

Perhaps 200 of the fabled cetaceans utilize the surrealistically blue realm beyond the island. None has expressed ferocity toward humans or bitten the leg from a tyrannical (and fictional) captain.

On the contrary, as people such as Armour have learned, these great leviathans, once hunted mercilessly around the world, are docile and at times even seem friendly toward people.

"The whales come to us, make friends with us, and interact with us," says Peter G. Allinson, a Baltimore doctor who has made several trips to Dominica, which is between the French islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe.

"The best encounter is when the whales are socializing among themselves and they'll come over and play with us," Allinson adds. "A couple of them will rub up against you and try to get you to rub them, and some of them roll over on their backs and let you rub their bellies. It's quite interesting."

Allinson's images have appeared in National Geographic magazine and won photo contests. He does not distribute his photos but, as a supporter of the Save the Whales organization, the doctor allowed their use for this story hoping it'll raise awareness that all whales "are very intelligent and very friendly animals, and they should not be hunted."

Images captured recently by professional photographers also have surfaced, on various websites, and suddenly the whales of Dominica are no longer a secret.

"The secret is now coming out," Armour says. "And it's coming out in a sense that this is the best place to see sperm whales, this close to North America."

This is disconcerting to scientists, however. They say a budding and largely unregulated "swim-with" program might be harmful to the whales. "These interactions alter the normal daily behavior pattern of not only the animal which is interacted with but also all of its family members as a result," says Shane Gero, a researcher from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Armour, who closely works with researchers but also runs a whale-watching business, acknowledges that regulations are needed but adds: "My strategy with them has always been to let them want to be with me. The thing is to not let youngsters get too far away from the family group. In this way we have noticed a minimal change in the behavior of the group as a unit."

Scientists on alert as Costa Rica's Turrialba volcano spews helium

The weather is wild here in Southern California, but in checking for news elsewhere in the world I discovered that Costa Rica's Turrialba Volcano, which experienced a minor eruption earlier this month, is acting up again.

This should not alarm tourists planning to visit the Central American nation, which is a cherished destination for outdoors enthusiasts of all types. However, it's interesting to note that the volcano this week began spewing helium, which is an indication of magmatic activity, so it's possible that molten rock, or lava, could begin to rise within the volcano.

I found two stories on the topic. The English-language Tico Times reported that scientists have stopped short of predicting lava flows from the volcano, which is about 25 miles northeast of the capital city of San Jose, and that health experts still are assessing risks from helium and other gasses.

Inside Costa Rica reported that a yellow cautionary alert remains in effect in the communities of Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Capellados and Pacayas, and that two schools near the volcano have been closed indefinitely.

The volcano's last major eruption was in 1866. Scientists so far are not speculating as to whether the recent activity might be signaling another such episode in the near future.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo courtesy of OVSICORI

Major eruption of Costa Rica's Turrialba volcano not likely soon

Tourists planning trips to Costa Rica might be interested to know that scientists do not anticipate a major eruption of the Turrialba volcano, at least for the time being.

However, the volcano--which is in a national park--continues to rumble and bark and emit gas and ash from a new crater that formed after last week's minor eruption.

Mauricio Mora of the National Seismological Network told reporters Friday that this was normal and does not imply a buildup of activity inside the volcano, which is located in eastern Costa Rica, about 25 miles from the capital city of San Jose.

However, the alert level remains a cautionary yellow and concern remains high enough to keep the park closed and prevent at least 40 evacuees from returning to their homes near the base of the volcano. They're staying with relatives or being housed in shelters, and many are frustrated because they left behind so many belongings, including pets.

Said María Sumbrilla to the Central American country's English-language newspaper, Tico Times: "Our clothes, food, animals, it's all up there and the National Police won't let us in. It's ridiculous. The press show up and they can pass. Ministers and government officials come, and they get access. But the people who have lives up there, they tell us no, you can't pass."

The volcano's last major eruption was in 1866.

-- Pete Thomas

Costa Rica raises alert level as Turrialba volcano rumbles

With Costa Rica's Turrialba volcano exhibiting low but steady seismic activity, authorities in the Central American nation have raised the alert level from green (normal) to yellow (advisory) and expanded the area of evacuation to about a three-mile radius from the mountain, which is located 25 miles east of the capital city of San Jose.

Vanessa Rosales of the National Emergency Commission said Wednesday during a news conference that "intense but low" seismic activity was continuing in the crater area.

The 10,919-foot volcano erupted briefly Tuesday, spewing ash and rocks and forcing a small number of nearby residents to leave their homes. More evacuations were ordered Wednesday. It was the first eruption since 1866.

The charming agricultural town of Turrialba is a base for many eco-tourism activities, including rafting and kayaking excursions on the scenic and at times mighty Pacuare River.

-- Pete Thomas

Eruption of Turrialba volcano has Costa Ricans, tourists on alert

Scientists are keeping close tabs on Costa Rica's Turrialba volcano, which on Tuesday afternoon sent a large cloud of smoke and ask skyward.

It was the first significant activity within the volcano since it last erupted in 1866, causing ash to fall as far away as neighboring Nicaragua.

Families living at the foot of the volcano were evacuated and more evacuations in the town of Turrialba are expected today.

Tourists since April, when the volcano began to emit strong sulfuric gasses, had been limited to 20 minutes of exposure at the main viewing point.

Residents in the Central American nation, while this has no connection, might be quick to note that almost exactly a year ago a devastating earthquake in Poas Volcano National Park killed more than a dozen people and left tourists in the region trapped for days because of damaged roadways.

The 11,000-foot Turrialba volcano is east of the capital city of San Jose, in the verdant central highlands.

According to the English-language Tico Times, emergency teams with the Red Cross have for the past few months been planning and training with locals to prepare for a large-scale evacuation, just in case.

-- Pete Thomas

Aerial photo of the Turrialba volcano courtesy of the Municipalidad de Turrialba