Isla Coiba World Heritage Site, Panama
M2 Deployed Here!
Location Summary
Coiba National Park, located in the Gulf of Chiriquf, in the southwestern region of the Panamanian Pacific, is made up of Coiba, the largest island in the Central American Pacific, with an area of 503.14 square kilometers, plus other smaller islands, islets and rocky promontories that total 38, and that, together with Coiba, cover 537.32 square kilometers.
The marine surface of the park is estimated in 2,024.63 Km and has the most extensive area of coral reefs of the Eastern Pacific (17 square kilometers), where numerous threatened species converge, among them turtles and marine mammals, in addition to a rich and varied ichthyofauna that allows the sustainable use of artisanal and sport fishing.
Coiba NP has become the habitat and feeding site of the largest juvenile hawksbill turtle population in the entire Eastern Tropical Pacific where more than 500 individuals have been tagged, which demonstrates the good conservation status of this area and therefore the importance of conservation and protection of this protected area, since according to this monitoring it has become an important link in the connectivity of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor.
In the marine environment four species of octocorals stand out: Pacifigorgia catedralensis, Leptogorgia christiae, Pacifigorgia rubinoffi and Pacifigorgia smithsoniana.
In total, 1,045 species of vascular plants, 224 species of terrestrial vertebrates and nearly 2,000 marine species have been identified in Coiba NP.
The M2 system was deployed in partnership with Global Conservation and the Ministry of Environment of Panama (MiAmbiente) and will help monitor scuba diving and artisanal fishing operations within the park.
