In his report, Damian Carrington joins a patrol boat on a hunt for pirate vessels looting the Cocos Island’s natural wealth.
The Guardian – It’s just after dawn and on the gleaming Pacific Ocean, 365 miles off the coast of Costa Rica, the hunt is on for pirates. But these 21st-century buccaneers are looting the treasure beneath the waves, not the gold and silver coins buried long ago on Cocos Island a few miles away.
Cocos, the remote emerald tip of a towering underwater mountain range which was the setting for the fictional Isla Nublar in the novel Jurassic Park, has served as a pirate hideaway, whaling station, penal colony and a pit stop for Colombian drug runners. It is the most shark-rich island on Earth and its underwater flanks serve as a nursery for myriad marine species, many unique.
This is a good piece. Costa Rica’s belated effort to protect this environmental jewel is laudable, but must involve all involved components of government, including the courts. As the article indicates, only one arrest has ever been made, and that one did no jail time. With judges letting accused smugglers of record cocaine amounts go free “pending trial” (that will likely never occur), it is unlikely that these environmental pirates will ever see justice. Perhaps the radar and increased patrols will at least discourage some of the piracy.