Costa Rica — Bringing Connected Gear Tracking to the Gulf of Nicoya

BUOY.fish is now live in the Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica: our first deployment in Central America, bringing connected fishing gear tracking to the Gulf's artisanal fisheries in partnership with the Global Ghost Gear Initiative.

The Gulf of Nicoya

The Gulf of Nicoya is one of Costa Rica's most important fishing grounds, supporting thousands of artisanal fishermen and their communities. It's also a complex, vast body of water where gear loss is a persistent problem — and where the environmental consequences of ghost gear compound in a region rich with marine biodiversity.

What We Built

The project went live on July 24, 2026. Over the following eight days our team installed five LoRaWAN gateways at sites around the Gulf, hosted by local businesses and landowners who agreed to give our equipment a home. Those gateways are the wireless backbone the trackers report through.

On the water, the deployment runs 28 smart buoys and 14 vessel trackers. That is more than the 20 buoys and 10 trackers we originally planned.

You can see the network on our coverage map, or watch the coverage grow day by day from go-live.

Applying What We've Learned

Every deployment teaches us something that shapes the next one. The Costa Rica project was designed around key lessons from our Punta Abreojos and Nova Scotia deployments:

• Height and line-of-sight are paramount. In Nova Scotia, low-lying port facilities underperformed due to "land shadows," while elevated sites provided far better coverage. In Costa Rica we prioritized high, open sites with a clear view across the Gulf.
• Local relationships are everything. Securing installation sites requires trust and embedded local partners. GGGI and local partners brokered introductions and permissions before our team arrived, which is how five gateways went up in a little over a week.

Why Costa Rica

Expanding to Central America is a strategic milestone for BUOY.fish. It shows the technology can adapt to different geographies, fishery types, and operational contexts. The Gulf of Nicoya's artisanal fisheries operate differently from Baja's cooperative lobster fleet or Nova Scotia's regulated lobster zones — and understanding those differences is how we build a product that works for fishing communities everywhere.

What's Next

The deployment runs through late November 2026, when we'll deliver our efficacy report to the project's funders. We'll share what we learned here once it's out.

Try the live demo to see the platform.