Decree No. 43373-MAG

Article 2° – AUTHORITY TO ASSIGN
The Executive Branch, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG), shall have the authority to assign, in partial volumes, the fishing capacity established in Article 1 of this regulation to tuna purse-seine fishing vessels, ensuring that the assigned capacity does not exceed the limit recognized by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) for the State of Costa Rica.
The capacity assigned to the specific vessel requested may correspond to part or the entirety of the volume of its hold, estimated in cubic meters. In cases of partial assignments, the vessel may only operate with the capacity assigned by the State of Costa Rica and the capacity assigned by its flag state.

The MAG shall reserve a percentage of the capacity to be assigned to:

a) Tuna purse-seine fishing vessels, either under the national flag or foreign flag, that are owned by or associated with tuna processing companies already established and operational in Costa Rica as of the effective date of this Decree, provided they demonstrate credible evidence of their association with such industry to ensure a supply of raw materials.

b) Tuna purse-seine fishing vessels, either under the national flag or foreign flag, that are owned by or associated with new tuna processing companies that demonstrate plans to establish operations in Costa Rica, provided they present credible evidence of their association with these companies.

c) Tuna purse-seine fishing vessels, either under the national flag or foreign flag.

Requests for capacity assignment shall always be submitted by the vessel owner or their legal representative, who must indicate under which of the aforementioned conditions they are requesting the capacity assignment from the Costa Rican State, along with their commitment to comply with all provisions of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) and applicable regulations.

the owners of tuna purse seine vessels, whether flying a national or foreign flag, must submit a business and investment plan if they are associated with new tuna processing companies planning to establish operations in Costa Rica. This plan must explicitly include: • A commitment to hire Costa Rican personnel as part of the crew. • Details specifying the positions to be offered and the timeframe for fulfilling this requirement.