exploratory fishing conducted by individuals or legal entities, whether Costa Rican or foreign, or by international organizations using national or foreign-flagged vessels, will require a permit issued by the executing authority. The executing authority must designate a representative, with the role of observer, for foreign-flagged vessels and, at its discretion, for national-flagged vessels, to monitor the research work and ensure it complies with the conditions and limits set by INCOPESCA.

INCOPESCA will recommend and review, every year, the fisheries management plan for the exclusive economic zone, based on technical and scientific criteria according to social, economic, and environmental parameters, guiding the competitive development of fishing under the authorized modalities. This plan must consider the technological state of the fleets and their requirements for optimal execution, and will include, among other things, the determination of permitted fishing effort; monitoring, control, and surveillance measures, such as logs, physical or electronic systems, observers on board, as appropriate; mechanisms for reducing incidental catch, and any other technical aspect necessary for the proper performance of responsible fishing.

every tuna purse-seine vessel authorized to fish in Costa Rica's jurisdictional waters, in areas designated for this type of purse-seine fishing, under tuna licenses or with fishing capacity granted to operate in the eastern Pacific Ocean, must carry an observer on board to ensure the collection of scientific information and compliance with national fishing regulations. The observer’s presence will be required on all fishing trips for the period granted by the license or the period of the fish hold capacity concession. For these purposes, INCOPESCA must ensure the suitability of the observer for performing the assigned functions. These observers must be Costa Rican citizens, residents, or foreign nationals with work permits for national or foreign-flagged tuna vessels, in accordance with the provisions of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC). INCOPESCA will begin its own observer program for tuna purse-seine vessels, which must be properly regulated, considering the parameters, protocols, and requirements established by the corresponding RRFMO measures. The cost of the On-Board Observer Program for purse-seine tuna vessels will be financed by a fee per cubic meter of the hold capacity assigned within the catch quotas granted to the country. Additionally, these vessels must provide access to the captain’s logbook, detailing all relevant catch information, and share the signal from their satellite monitoring system for control on the INCOPESCA satellite monitoring platform, as an essential condition for granting the license.

Every advanced commercial fishing vessel must receive and carry an observer on board during fishing operations, as required by INCOPESCA. The observer on board must be a duly licensed biologist who will record the activities and events resulting from the fishing operation. The vessel owner, captain, and crew must cooperate with the observer in all tasks to be carried out and will provide the information requested in the forms or protocols for data collection that the observer must complete. At all times, the personal, moral, and physical integrity of the observer must be respected.

Article 20 - INCOPESCA will maintain a Registry of Observers, who must possess the professional qualifications and experience necessary to fulfill the technical counterpart functions in investigations authorized to be carried out on foreign vessels, according to the profiles developed by the Executing Authority for these purposes. These observers may be INCOPESCA officials or private individuals. The economic cost of the observers' work will be borne by the vessel's owner when they are private individuals, as in the case of officials, this cost is included in the license. In the case of investigations on national vessels, an observer will be required for fishery prospecting (exploratory fisheries), and all provisions of the previous paragraph will apply to them.