Discover Coiba, the "Jewel of the Pacific" - Mission Blue

March 12, 2012

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Coiba National Park, located off the southwest coast of Panama, is made up of Coiba Island, 38 smaller islands and the surrounding marine areas within the Gulf of Chiriqui. Coiba Island is the biggest island in Central America and is also the largest uninhabited island in all of Latin America.

Protected from the cold winds and effects of El Niño, Coiba hosts exceptional diversity both on the land and in the ocean. The island is a critical part of the Eastern Pacific Seascape, a broad ocean area within the waters of Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, and Ecuador.

Coiba was declared a World Heritage site in 2005 because of its role as a key ecological link for the transit and survival of surface-dwelling fishes and marine mammals. The varied marine environments within the park provide habitat and resources for diverse marine life, including nearly 800 species of fish, 33 species of sharks, and 20 species of cetaceans.

Last week, the Mission Blue team—including oceanographer Sylvia Earle and Smithsonian senior scientists Hector Guzman—embarked on an expedition to the national park to draw attention to the importance of Coiba’s protection and explore its waters. The researchers collected corals, tube worms, black coral, a sea pen, bryozoans, pink stylaster coral, brittle stars, and black solitary cup coral from the ocean floor about 200 meters below the surface. 

The crew said they felt “as if we were discovering a new planet . . . our own mysterious ocean.”

Dolphins frolic alongside the Mission Blue ship. Credit Jenifer Austin Foulkes

Adapted from Jenifer Austin Foulkes and Deb Castellana’s blogs from the Sylvia Earle Alliance.

Top Image Credit: Kip Evans

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