Since 1985, the closed seasons (vedas) have aimed to protect the reproduction period of shrimp. With this, other species of commercial interest were protected. The closed season (veda) between May and July coincides with the start of the rainy season. Recent studies found that some species such as sardines (genus Opisthonema; Vega, 2010), the ballyhoo Hemiramphus saltator (Marín, 2011B), the gualaje mano de piedra Centropomus unionensis (Zubiría, 2013), and the barracuda Sphyraena ensis (Quiroz, 2014) are reproducing in the dry season (December to March). There is no scientific evidence that fish of greater commercial importance (corvina reina, corvina aguada, and corvina picuda) have their main reproductive peak between May and July. Therefore, the annual closed seasons (vedas) are being carried out without any scientific justification. The shrimp fishery is conducted with legal trasmallos (3-inch mesh size) and illegal ones (smaller mesh sizes).
There exist other fisheries of equal or greater importance than that of shrimp that are conducted with handline (cuerda) (in the Marine Areas of Responsible Fishing) targeting corvinas reinas and white and black snook (robalo blanco y negro), or those done with trasmallos of 3.5-inch mesh size (legal) and targeting corvinas aguadas and picudas, however, they are not being considered for the establishment of the closed seasons (vedas). Zone 201 is a nursery zone for multiple species of commercial interest that are captured in the Gulf of Nicoya and therefore must have special protection, which has not been done. There is no permanent reproduction monitoring program that allows for scientifically understanding, verifying, and monitoring the reproductive seasons and peaks of commercially important species (shrimp, fish species), which would allow for taking measures for a true protection of fishery resources.
It is evident that the annual closed seasons (vedas), as they have been declared, do not respond to any technical-scientific justification. The annual closed season (veda) months have been varied almost every year without any technical justification. In the Gulf of Nicoya, there are no closed seasons (vedas) directed at protecting the recruitment peaks of the species, which should also be one of the primordial objectives of the same. It is indicated, in the declaration documents, that at least from 1996, there would be a variation in the start months of the closed season (veda), which was a proposal put forward by the National University; however, said research document is not in the official records, making it impossible to verify its basis. The annual adjustments in the closed season (veda) period should only respond to the scientific-fishery analysis obtained from constant monitoring of the Gulf of Nicoya fisheries; however, as indicated previously, INCOPESCA's Fisheries Monitoring Program does not exist.
There is no coherence or justification for the changes observed annually regarding the areas within the gulf where the closed season (veda) applies. The closed season (veda) agreements were analyzed, which indicate that, on several occasions (Table 2 and Annex 3), the Board of Directors of INCOPESCA declares the closed season (veda) following the recommendation of the Closed Season Commission (Comisión de Vedas). However, days after the declaration, modifications to the details of the previously agreed closed seasons (vedas) were made via another Board of Directors agreement. This was without any apparent technical backing or justification, and generally a product of pressure from some fishing sector, as occurred in the same year 2015 with the sardine sector (INCOPESCA 2015C, 2015D). No scientific-technical justification was found regarding the annual changes to the fishing gears prohibited and permitted during the closed seasons (vedas).
In a given year (Table 1 and Annex 3), the use of handline (cuerda), line, beach seine (chinchorro), purse seine (red de cerco), and even certain types of trasmallo was permitted without providing technical justification for those exceptions. No research has been developed that allows for understanding the effectiveness of these special closed seasons (vedas) or obtaining results that facilitate the adoption of other management measures if necessary. INCOPESCA's Department of Research and Development has prepared four closed season (veda) reports (Marín and Vásquez, 2010; Marín et al., 2012; Marín et al. 2013A, Marín et al. 2013B, and Marín et al. 2015), with clear foundations and specific recommendations on the state of fishery resources within the Gulf of Nicoya, especially regarding the post-closed season (veda) effect. The results of these post-closed season (veda) analyses clearly demonstrate the critical and lamentable state in which the fishery resources of the Gulf of Nicoya are found and warn that if immediate actions are not taken on controlling fishing activity, there will be irreparable consequences, both environmental and socioeconomic, in this region.