In Costa Rica, on a beach, two women are working with sea bass skins to create leather.
Two years ago, Mauren Castro, 41, and Marta Sosa, 70, relied on their fishermen husbands to support their families of four and six.
Today, they are proud members of the all-female Piel Marina (Marine Skin) cooperative, which repurposes fish skins that would have otherwise been discarded at sea into sustainable fashion items.
For generations, fishing has been the economic backbone of Costa de Pájaros, a village located about 62 miles (100 kilometers) west of San José. However, fishermen have reported that regulations aimed at promoting sustainable fish stocks—such as a complete ban on fishing from May to July—have made it increasingly difficult to make a living from the sea.
Enter the NGO MarViva, which helped train 15 women to become seafront tanners two years ago. Initially skeptical about the potential of fish skins as a raw material for fashion, Castro shared her doubts:
“We said, ‘How can a skin—which is something that gets smelly and is considered waste—be the raw material for women to get ahead?”
Over time, these women have refined their craft and are now supplementing their families’ incomes. Wearing blue rubber gloves and white t-shirts emblazoned with “Piel Marina,” Sosa and Castro demonstrate how a skin salvaged from a filleted sea bass can be transformed into earrings, necklaces, or even handbags.
The process begins with gently rubbing the skin to remove scales and any remaining flesh. “Then we wash it with soap as if we were doing laundry. After that, we dye it with glycerin, alcohol, and natural dye before drying it,” Sosa explained. The dyeing process takes four days, followed by another four days for the leather to dry in the sun. The end product is soft and pliable yet strong—crucially, it no longer smells of fish and is waterproof.
In addition to tanning leather, these women have also taken on the role of jewelry designers, selling colorful earrings and necklaces on Instagram and Facebook. A pair of butterfly-shaped earrings costs about seven dollars. They also supply some of their leather to small-scale textile producers in Puntarenas, Costa Rica’s main Pacific port.
Costa Rica is part of a growing trend recognizing the potential of fish tanning—a practice rooted in Indigenous cultures from Alaska to Scandinavia to Asia. For instance, salmon skins have been traditionally used by the Ainu people in Japan and Inuit communities in Canada for clothing and boots. In Kenya’s Lake Victoria region, tilapia skins are now crafted into handbags. Brazilian company Nova Kaeru produces leather from the discarded scales of the giant pirarucu fish native to the Amazon.
Notably, former Dior creative director John Galliano showcased fish leather in his 2002 collections when he wore an Atlantic salmon skin jacket and carried a fish leather bag.
The women of Piel Marina are grateful for a job that allows them to step away from domestic chores while providing a modest income. They dream of seeing their handcrafted leather products on global stages. Castro’s eyes sparkle at the thought: “I would like it to be seen in Hollywood, in Canada, or on the great catwalks in Paris!”
