"In Costa Rica, we live with our backs to the sea." - Jeffry Madrigal-Mesen, Marine Biologist
Within Costa Rica, the fight to protect hammerhead sharks is faced with the realities of illegal fishing and government inaction. The apex predator, though feared by some sea life, is actually one of the most fragile shark species in the world, according to the Save Our Seas Foundation. Upon capture — even if accidental — they have a high mortality rate. In June 2023, the Costa Rican Supreme Court decreed that hammerhead sharks are wildlife; therefore, they cannot be commercialized or exported out of the country. Yet, this is still happening through “bycatch” — accidental capture that lets fishermen, both small-scale and commercial, continue to profit. The following images capture small-scale fishermen at work off the coast of Paquera, shark meat found in fishing markets in Puntarenas, and a team of marine biologists out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean to tag hammerhead sharks in June of 2025.
“It's illegal to export any of these threatened sharks that are listed under the CITES convention [Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora],” said Randall Arauz, a marine biologist and hammerhead shark advocate. “And here we are doing it.”
Photo caption: Randall Arauz holds up a passive archived transmitter, which he intends to attach to five hammerhead or thresher sharks. Each transmitter costs roughly $3,000.
In June of 2023, Arauz’s lawyer filed a lawsuit arguing that Costa Rica’s INCOPESCA is in contempt of court for not taking effective actions to enforce the wildlife conservation law protecting hammerhead sharks, which the Supreme Court had ruled must be upheld earlier that year. As of 2025 enforcement remains inconsistent, and conservation groups continue to monitor INCOPESCA’s compliance with the court’s ruling. Another case is going through the courts where, back in February 2025, INCOPESCA authorized the trafficking of 12.6 tons of hammerhead shark to be exported to Hong Kong. Although the hammerhead sharks originated in Nicaragua, Costa Rica’s INCOPESCA authorized their export through the country to Hong Kong. Conservation groups say this violates Costa Rica’s Supreme Court ruling that hammerheads are protected wildlife, highlighting gaps in enforcement, even for trans-shipped fish. Photo caption: A market butcher holds up two baby sharks that Randall Arauz suspects were hammerheads on June 12.
While adult hammerheads can be found deep within the ocean, baby hammerheads, or pups, are often raised near the coast and can be a common collateral damage during a regular day on the job for local fishermen. Despite it being illegal to fish for hammerhead sharks, other shark species, like the blacktip, are still commercialized and allowed to be hunted.
“If you have your fishing license, everything is fine,” Michael, a local fisherman, said. “The shark without fins is not a problem. The problem is to bring the fins without the shark.”
Photo caption: Dozens of hooks and lines are hung along the edges of plastic cylinders along with other fishing supplies on June 11.
However, Michael said that many local fishermen have stopped intentionally hunting sharks in general because there are few along the coast due to overfishing and the investment to go hunting into the open water has become expensive. Hammerheads sharks, like most shark species, are apex predators, meaning that they are at the top of the food chain. Madrigal-Mesen said hammerheads are vital to the ecosystem and can indirectly affect fishermen’s wallets. “These animals that they eat, they become out of control and eat these other species that are of commercial interest,” Madrigal-Mesen said. “So the fishermen will have seriously affected their economic activity.” Photo caption: Off the coast of Paquera, Costa Rica is a small fishing market only accessible by boat. Here fishermen will trade their fresh catches.
Hammerheads shark fins are one of the most highly sought after delicacies with prices ranging from $100 to $135 per kilogram according to Save Our Seas Foundation. However, the body of the shark is not worth as much, so it often gets consumed by Costa Rican coastals. Because of this, Zelina Fontana, an ocean conservation artist, said she believes it is important that everyone in Costa Rica should be united in one marine identity (that believes in protecting the sharks). However, Madrigal-Mesen said that isn’t currently the case. Instead he said he feels like the government is putting up this narrative that they are putting in effort to create this marine identity, but the continued exports of hammerhead sharks don’t reflect this.
But Jose Miguel Carvajal Rodriguez, coordinator of INCOPESCA’s investigation team, said the total eradication of hammerhead capture is unrealistic. “You can minimize the impact of fisheries, but you can’t do it all,” Carvajal-Rodriguez said. “To eradicate is to eliminate fisheries completely, and that’s impossible.” He also added that INCOPESCA doesn’t have the resources or people to comply with the mandate: There are only 125 employees to oversee the 2,032 registered commercial fishermen, and that’s not even counting those without a license. Carvajal-Rodriguez said they are currently working to improve their system of having ship captains log what they capture and release.
Arauz said that Costa Rica needs to hurry up.
“I’m going to be gone within the next couple of decades,” Arauz said, who is 63-years-old. “By the time you are my age you are going to be saving silky sharks, because that’s the only shark that’s going to be left.”
Photo to the right: Marine biologist Randall Arauz grabs a passive archived transmitter after laying out supplies necessary to tag thresher sharks on June 17, 2025.
This photo essay is apart of a bigger project funded and published by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.