Fishing License For Guanacaste, Costa Rica
What is a fishing license? Is it necessary?
The fishing license is a document issued by Incopesca (which stands for Costa Rican Institute of Fishing and Aquaculture) to have control over fishing activities in Costa Rican waters.
This document is not always necessary, that depends on how lucky you are with the coastguards (if they appear and stop the boat or not). However, we recommend that you buy it a few days before the tour to avoid any problems.
Fishing licenses are necessary for both tourists and locals, in short, each person in the group who is going to fish from a boat must have her personal license.
What is the cost of a fishing license?
These licenses can be purchased weekly, monthly or yearly and have a cost per person of:
→ USD $17: 1 week
→ USD $28: 1 month
→ USD $57: 1 year
Where can I buy a fishing license?
You can buy a fishing license at the INCOPESCA offices (these offices are far away) or online at the following link at the official site.
It must be taken into account that this page where you can buy the licenses online is often down, so buy the licenses some days before the tour to avoid any inconvenience.
You can buy the licenses whenever you want in advance, just input the effective date of the tour and that’s it!
This is the look of the official website for purchasing fishing licenses in Costa Rica:
If you need some help buying the fishing licenses, let us know! We can give you a hand.
IMPORTANT NOTES:
→ A fishing license is not necessary if you want to fish from the beach in Costa Rica.
→ If you don’t buy the fishing license and the officials stop the boat to do a check, they can stop the tour and send us all back to the beach.
→ It is not our responsibility if the officials stop the tour due to the lack of fishing licenses of the passengers. Captains and sailors have active fishing licenses.