April 19, 2019 — Mario Espinoza has dedicated years of his life to saving a fish he has yet to see for himself in Costa Rica’s waters. It’s not for lack of trying. Every single month, the University of Costa Rica marine scientist and his team drive to the edges of one of the largest mangroves in the world, where they load onto a former fisherman’s boat and work tirelessly over three days casting nets and longlines into the murky waters of the estuary. Under the shadow of 80-foot tall mangrove trees, with crocodiles and howler monkeys for company, they seek evidence of a ghost: the largetooth sawfish.
“You retrieve the longline hook by hook, and with every hook you’re retrieving, you’re crossing your fingers thinking, ‘Oh this could be it!’” Espinoza says. From his research collecting data on sawfish captures and sightings, he knows that the Térraba-Sierpe National Wetland is one of two remaining hotspots for sawfish in Costa Rica, where they were once abundant. “We know we’re not completely on the wrong track. It’s just that they’re an endangered species. They’re very rare.”
Last year, Espinoza received word of a total of 10 confirmed sawfish sightings across the entire country.