The Costa Rican government has seized a commercial fishing boat caught with its fishing lines inside the waters of the Isla del Coco National Marine Park, one of the country's most prized protected areas.

Park guards boarded the boat and released three live sharks and a mahi-mahi back into the sea, according to a statement from MarViva, a non-governmental sea conservation organization.

The boat, called the Zaragoza II, was caught by the MarViva I, a patrol boat belonging to the conservation NGO. The organization conducts regular patrols with park guards from the Environment, Energy and Telecommunications Ministry (MINAET) aboard.

The Zaragoza II was caught 8.5 nautical miles from the island of Isla del Coco, which lies 365 miles off Costa Rica's Pacific coast. The Isla del Coco National Park encompasses the island and the biologically rich waters surrounding it within 12 nautical miles of the shore.