Two new Panama marine sanctuaries

PANAMA has two major  new protected marine sancturies, Cordillera de Coiba on the Pacific Ocean, and Banco Volcan in the Caribbean Sea.

With these locations  the country now protects t 13.5% of of its  territorial waters The two latest water refuges total approximately 31,435 square kilometers.

President, Juan Carlos Varela, signed the executive orders by which both sites are declared as marine reserves on Tuesday September 22.

There are underwater mountains, where a biodiversity of species coexists, some of them unknown.

The establishment of the marine sanctuaries began during the current  administration with the efforts of the former National Environmental Authority (ANAM), now the Ministry of The Environmwnt,  in conjunction with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the National Secretariat of Science and Technology.

The purpose is to conserve natural resources in the south of Coiba Island and those between the provinces of Colon and Veraguas.