Articles About Panama Tours And Travel | The Marine Turtles of Panama
Sea turtles date back to a pre-historic age. At one time, most Caribbean beaches were home to at least one species of sea turtle. Of the seven remaining species, four of these, from the largest to the smallest, nest on Panama beaches: the leatherback, green turtle, the hawksbill and the olive ridley. All are considered endangered or critically endangered.
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More About Panama's Marine Turtles
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There Are 3 Species Most Likely To Be Seen While On Tour On Panama
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All marine turtles except the green turtle are carnivorous and except for the kemp ridley species, nest at night. The turtles use their back flippers to dig and cover the holes where they deposit their eggs.
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The two turtle species you are least likely to see on your Panama tours are the Eastern Pacific green turtle (Chelonia Agassizii), also called the black sea turtle, and the loggerhead turtle. Both are considered endangered. Measuring up to four feet and 400 pounds at adulthood, the green turtle derives its name from the distinctive hue on various parts of its body due to absorption of plant pigmentation from its main diet, sea grass. Green turtles nest every two to five years between June and August, most commonly, off the Azuero Peninsula in central Panama. In addition to the usual turtle threats, green turtles appear susceptible to certain kinds of tumors. While the large loggerhead turtle is found around Panama, you are more likely to see one in the water than nesting on a Panama beach.
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Between 20,000 and 30,000 turtles come to Panama to nest. Observing Panama's marine turtles is a nighttime sightseeing experience. Two great places to observe them on your Panama tours is Playa Bluff on Isla Colon in Bocas del Toro Province and the Isla de Canas Wildlife Refuge off the Azuero Peninsula where four species come to nest.
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Thanks to efforts to protect marine habitats by countries such as Panama, some species are making a comeback. Establishing a baseline to determine a status for these species makes use of historical sources. To identify former nesting sites, researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography studied the writings of pirates and other traders who once traveled these waters. From their work, scientists estimate that 20% of the sites that once existed in the Caribbean are gone, and of the remaining 80%, most serve only small numbers of turtles. Turtles must not only contend with predators on land and sea, but also encroachment by humans on their habitat and getting caught in fishing nets, as well as unpredictable natural disasters such as hurricanes that wipe out nesting sites. Scientists therefore hope to restore lesser sites instead of just concentrating on the sites that attract the most turtles.
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Many agencies throughout the world, both government and non-profit organizations, are working to restore the populations of threatened marine turtles and their habitat. To name a few: Working together, NOAA and the shrimp trawler industry have designed a Turtle Excluder Device to enable accidentally-captured turtles to escape deep-sea trawling nets. To watch a loggerhead turtle escape a net through the device, go to www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/turtles.
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The Sea Turtle Restoration Project is a U.S.-based advocacy organization that works with local communities to protect turtles and aligns with other conservation entities to promote habitat protection and turtle-protective fishing practices. To find out more about its activities, go to www.seaturtles.org.
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In 2006, the U.S. Congress unanimously passed the Marine Turtle Conservation Act at the urging of the World Wildlife Fund and the Ocean Conservancy. It appropriates $5 million a year for conservation efforts to protect marine turtles and their habitat in US waters and to aid international conservation efforts.
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Established in 2001, the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Preservation of Sea Turtles is the world's only international agreement designed to protect these species and their habitat. In January of 2008, Panama became the twelfth country to sign the agreement.
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If you are interested in learning more about the marine turtles of Panama, read our articles on the hawksbills, the olive ridleys and the leatherbacks.
