Morrisey/Warhol film screening
“Chelsea Girls” (1966, U.S.), Part II. Espacios Audiovisuales Film Festival. Free showing, 6 p.m., Contemporary Art and Design Museum. 2257-9370, www.madc.ac.cr 

Piano Recital by Mijail Tumánov
Playing works by Beethoven, Liszt, Schumann, Skryabin, Rachmaninoff, Rzewski, Aug. 19, 8 p.m., Salón Ceibo, Costa Rica Country Club, Escazú.

Bruce Callow in concert
Acoustic, 9 p.m., Stan's Irish Pub, Zapote, 2253-4360. 

Jazz Fusion Trio
Naguall Trio. Jazz Café, Escazú, 2288-4740. 

Gian Carlo Sandoval-Mazzero
Contemporary jewelry, Aug. 19-26, Sophia Wanamaker Gallery, CCCN.

Limon's Nery Brenes' performance Sunday in the third heat of the men's 400 meter race at the Beijing Olympics is so far Costa Rica's shining moment at the 2008 games.

Brenes won his heat with a time of 45.36 seconds, sending him into the semifinals. Bahamian Christ Brown had the fastest qualifying time at 44.79. U.S. runner Michael Johnson set the 43.18 world record in 1999.

Brenes' personal bests put him fourth out of the nine runners slated in that semifinal, the slowest of the three semifinal groups, which will take place to take place today at 7:45 a.m.

The top two finishers in each heat will advance to the finals, as well as the two runners with the next-best times.

Allan Segura finished 39th out of 49 finishers in the 20–kilometer race walk with a time of 1:27.10, eight minutes behind the winner.

Marianela Quesada finished eighth of eight in heat 6 of the women's 50-meter freestyle with a time of 28.11 seconds. No one from her heat advanced to the semifinals.

Britta Steffen of Germany eventually won gold in that event with an Olympic record of 24.06. U.S. Olympian Dara Torres set an Americas record of 24.07 seconds to take silver.

In the women's marathon, Gabriela Traña ranked 68th out of 69 finishers and 82 competitors with a time of 2:53:45. Romanian Constantina Tomescu won the event with a time of 2:26:44.

MANAGUA – Various Nicaraguan opposition sectors reiterated their calls to President Daniel Ortega to hold national dialogue to solve social, economic and institutional problems.

On Saturday, Ortega accused the opposition of being “Mr. Contrary” (“don me opongo”) and not offering concrete proposals to bring progress to the country.

Several opposition legislators from various groups accepted – with reservations – the president's former call for more tangible proposals, as well as collaborative efforts, while rejecting the latter.

Liberal Party head Maximino Rodríguez said yesterday to local press that this call is positive and that Ortega should now create the conditions to begin dialogue where words can become actions.

Opposition lawmaker Eduardo Lontealegre, leader of the Nicaraguan Democratic Coalition (BDN), said he is ready to participate in national dialogue, although he expressed reservations over the sincerity of Ortega's calls.

Montealegre, a mayorial candidate for Managua and second to Ortega in the 2006 presidential general election, signaled that the Sandinista chief of state “only criticizes and tells people to say that we're populists,” when opposition parties propose legislation.

“When President Ortega tells us, ‘Come sit down here, come and help me resolve this country's problems,' when he says it with sincerity, then we'll be there for the good of the people,” he said.

Meanwhile, the coordinator for the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS), Edmundo Jarquín, also a 2006 presidential candidate, qualified Ortega's calls as positive, in the sense that it opens the possibility that the Executive Branch listens to those who “are not in line with his government's logic.”

He added that MRS, made up of Sandinista dissidents, has made varied proposals, namely regarding energy, the majority of which were neglected by Ortega, while others were welcomed, albeit belatedly.

The Catholic and Evangelical churches, business leaders and various civil society sectors have also called upon Ortega to open up national dialogue.

The Costa Rican Fisheries Institute (INCOPESCA) held a meeting yesterday with commercial and sportfishing camps, as well as the conservation group, The Billfish Foundation, to address the rapidly declining billfish numbers in Costa Rican waters.

The debate has grown intense between commercial and sportfishing sectors, who both claim the other is encroaching on their waters. In June, there were several accounts of commercial fishing rigs harassing sportfishing vessels and tourists with machine guns, helicopters and even explosives.

Guatemalan and Mexican sportfishing industries have prospered in the wake of the decline of the Costa Rican billfish population.

“The commercial fishing and sportfishing industries are in crisis,” said Nelson Ehrhardt, professor of Marine Biology and Fisheries at University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. “ Costa Rica is losing status as an avenue for sportfishing. Your neighbors are gaining the best clients. The Costa Rican contingent is the region's big loser right now.”

Between 2000 and 2006, the average sailfish haul in national tournaments dipped from roughly eight fish to one, and sportfishing boats failed to catch any fish on 60 percent of outings in 2007, as opposed to 37 percent that came up empty-handed in 2006.

There are also claims the commercial fishers underreport their harvests, further abating the number of billfish. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that Costa Rica is the fifth largest billfish exporter and the U.S. the second largest importer, says Ehrhardt.

In wake of this, some have called for a ban on billfish, but others have called that excessive.

“I don't believe the voices that cry, ‘We have to (ban the harvest of billfish),'” said INCOPESCA president Carlos Villalobos. “That is the voice of dictatorship. I believe in the voice of sustainable development as shown by science.”

But Ehrhardt said some of the biggest problems are beyond Costa Rica, literally, but rather are due to Asian fleets that patrol the international waters just beyond Costa Rican shores. Besides depleting billfish populations with their fishing, Ehrhardt says, “(Taiwanese, Japanese and Chinese boats) release 50, 60 or 100 miles of line. Chlorophyll deposits are deoxidizing the water, creating these dead zones.”

Regardless of the solution the group reaches, Costa Rica stands to lose billions of tourist dollars if they mismanage the resource.

“This is a real tangible problem off the coasts of South, Central and North America,” Ehrhardt said. “ Costa Rica is losing the market power in a very important industry. If there is no sportfishing, there is no more development. Property values will fall.”

INCOPESCA plans to announce proposals and conclusions from the meeting today.