Status of Coral Reefs of the World 2000

Status of Coral Reefs in Southern Tropical America
waters which are sparsely distributed among 26 discrete areas, but comprise three main
groups: (1) the mainland coast with fringing reefs on rocky shores, such as the Santa Marta
and Urabá areas; (2) reefs on the continental shelf around offshore islands, such as the
Rosario and San Bernardo archipelagos; and (3) the oceanic reef complexes of the San
Andrés Archipelago in the Western Caribbean. The complexes illustrate the bestdeveloped
coral formations, including atolls, banks, barrier reefs, fringing reefs and patch
reefs. They collectively comprise more than 75% of Colombian coral reefs. Reefs on the
Pacific coast are very poor, with Gorgona Island being the only site with large coral
formations. There are a few reef patches in Ensenada de Utría and the oceanic Isla de
Malpelo, the latter is 350km off the coast and has coral growing down to 35m depth.
Costa Rica
There are about 100km 2 of coral reefs along the Caribbean and Pacific coasts of Costa Rica.
The 212km long Caribbean coast consists mainly of high energy sandy beaches, with corals
growing only in the southeast where a few poorly developed fringing reefs on fossil
carbonate outcrops in three areas: (1) Moin-Limón, which is adversely affected by a large
port; (2) Cahuita Natural Park, which includes the largest and best studied fringing reef on
the Caribbean coast; and (3) Puerto Viejo-Punta Mona, which has a few minor coral
formations. In contrast, Pacific reefs are more abundant and distributed along the 1160km
coast, although they have low coral diversity and are not well developed. The principal
Pacific reefs are near Santa Elena, Bahía Culebra, Isla del Caño and Golfo Dulce, but also in
the oceanic Isla del Coco that is 500km offshore. Around 60 hard coral species are known
from the Caribbean, while only 18 are recorded from the Pacific side.
Panama
There are 2,490km of coastline along both the Caribbean and Pacific shores, and includes
approximately 290km 2 of reefs. Most reefs (99%) are in the Caribbean, where there are more
hard coral species (64 species) than the Pacific (23 species). Caribbean coral reefs occur along
most of the coast, with three major areas: (1) the western coast (Bocas del Toro-Rio Chagres)
which has the highest coral cover of all the Caribbean reefs in Panama; (2) the central coast
(Colón-Isla Grande) which is near the major industrial area and the most degraded of these
Caribbean reefs (less than 4% coral cover); and (3) the eastern coast (San Blas or Kuna-Yala
territory), with the most extensive and diverse reefs in Panama. Most of Panama’s Pacific reefs
occur on islands near the coast, comprising two major reef areas: (1) the Gulf of Chiriqui, with
the best fringing reefs and the most representative for the eastern Pacific region; and (2) the
Gulf of Panamá, including reefs on Las Perlas archipelago, Taboga and Isla Iguana.
Venezuela
Reefs occur mainly in three Caribbean areas out of total 2,875km of Caribbean and Atlantic
coastline in Venezuela: (1) the Morrocoy National Park and adjacent reefs (San Esteban,
Turiamo and Ocumare de la Costa), which have the best developed coral formations on
the continental coast (more than 30 coral species and reef growth to 20m); (2) the
Mochima National Park and adjacent reefs (Coche and Cubagua islands), with more than 20
coral species growing down to 14m depth; and (3) the oceanic islands found more than
100km offshore, with the best reef formations of Venezuela occurring at Los Roques
archipelago (e.g. 57 coral species of and reef growth to more than 50m depth), as well as
the Aves, Orchila and Blanquilla islands.
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