Last Wednesday, February 17, over 100 activists sang “Happy Birthday” to the Judges of Costa Rica’s Supreme Court of Justice, to celebrate the 3rd year of waiting for a resolution that could finally put an end to shark finning in Costa Rica.

Since January of 2006, the Constitutional Court of the Supreme Court of Justice, ruled in favor of a Constitutional Lawsuit filed by Pretoma (04-001511-0007-CO), in which the use of public infrastructure is ordered for the landing of fishery products by the foreign shark finning fleet. In February of 2007, a year later, Pretoma filed a contempt suit against the Ministry of Public Transportations, Incopesca, Customs, and Ministry of Environment, because the authorities had ignored the orders of the Constitutional Court. Three years later, the Costa Rican people are still waiting for a resolution, while the foreign fleet continues to carelessly land sharks and fins in the privacy of their dock.