Cahuita — Caribbean Marine Protected Areas Management

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Identification

Name	Parque Nacional Cahuita
Short Name	Cahuita
General Description	Cahuita National Park is a National Park in the Caribbean La Amistad Conservation Area of Costa Rica located on the southern Caribbean coast in Limón Province, connected to the town of Cahuita. It protects beaches and lowlands and attracts tourists and other visitors who are able to scuba dive and snorkel in the protected marine area which contains the reefs, as well as being a nesting ground for sea turtles. This is also one of the least developed beaches in Costa Rica. The reef is known to have at least 35 species of coral, 140 species of molluscs, 44 species of crustaceans, and 123 species of fish. On land there are many types of animal as well including tamanduas, pacas, coatis, raccoons, sloths, agoutis, howler and capuchin monkeys. It has a variety of birds as well including the green ibis, rufous kingfisher and keel-billed toucans. Originally the site was created as the Cahuita National Monument in 1970, and was reformed as a National Park in 1978. This change was ratified in 1982. Cahuita National Park also has the distinction of the only national park in Costa Rica that does not to charge an admission fee (at the Cahuita entrance) but relies on donations.
Country or territory	Costa Rica
Geographic location	Limon Province, next to Cahuita city
Ecoregion location	South Western Caribbean
Boundaries	9.76667 N, 82.84167 W
Map
Map URL	http://greenjungle.org/site/images/stories/cahuitabasemapa.gif
no map
Total surface area (km²)	234.69
Land surface area (km²)	10.69
Sea surface area (km²)	224.0
Shoreline length (km)	14.0
Site national category	National Park
Site international designation
IUCN category	Choose one

Legal

Designation	Legally designated or approved
Date established	December 12, 1982
Legal citation
Citation reference URL	http://www.asamblea.go.cr/ley/leyes/6000/6794.doc
Other legal designations
Other legal designations reference URLs
Primary responsible institution	Area de Conservacion Amistad-Caribe
Primary contact	Edwin Cyrus Cyrus
Address Address of primary contact or management office	Area de Conservacion Amistad Caribe Apdo. 1077-7300 Limon
Phone number(s)	+56 2795-1446
Fax number(s)	+56 2735-3170
Email	edwin.cyrus@sinac.go.cr
Web site(s)	http://www.sinaccr.net/aclac_cahuita.php

Physical description

Climate	Rainfall ca. 2500 mm/year. Yearly average temperature ca. 27 °C.
Geological features selected from: cliffs, terraces, beaches, rocky shores, volcanic formations, islands, keys, atolls, blue holes, sink holes, caves, swamp, marsh, active volcano, dormant volcano, caldera, submarine canyon, mogotes or cockpit, lava field, outstanding speleothems, karstic	beaches, rocky shores
Hydrological features selected from: sheet flow, river(s) drainage, stream(s) drainage, springs(s), underground water drainage, ocean gyre, ocean loop/meandering current, upwelling	river(s) drainage, stream(s) drainage
Other hydrological features
Terrestrial habitats	Tropical lowland rain forest, swamp forest, mix forest and mangroves.
Terrestrial flora and fauna species	tamanduas, pacas, coatis, raccoons, sloths, agoutis, armadillos, iguanas, howler and capuchin monkeys, as well as a variety of birds including the green ibis, rufous kingfisher and keel-billed toucans, the Central American curassow. also red land crabs
Marine habitats	coral reefs, sea grass beds, sandy beaches
Marine flora	Most common algae: Sargassum sp., Dictyota sp., Galaxaura sp.
Marine invertebrates and fishes	Ca. 500 species of fishes. Most common fishes: queen angelfish, French angelfish, "Isabelita" , blue parrotfish, barracuda, sharks and rays. There is also sea cucumbers, lobsters, crabs, sponge, white shrimps, and 35 species of corals, among them, Acropora palmata, Diplora strigosa, Colcophyllia natans, Gorgonia flabellum
Marine mammals, birds and sea turtles	Chelonia midas (green turtle), and Eretmochelis inmporbata (carey)
Endangered species
Special aggregation sites	Turtle nesting site

Management

Primary management institution Institution responsible for day to day management	Area de Conservacion Amistad-Caribe
Other institutions that participate in management	Asociacion de Desarrollo Integral de Cahuita, and Camara de Turismo Cahuita, y Ministerio de Ambiente y Energia
Personnel	managers, rangers
Management objectives selected from: species protection, ecosystem protection, fisheries management, user conflict resolution, recreational/tourism use, navigation restrictions	species protection, ecosystem protection
Other management objectives
Management framework Management regime, framework, or plan	Yes
Date of establishment of management framework
Last update of management framework
Management programmes selected from: advisory committee, co-managment with private sector, construction regulations, education/outreach program, emergency operations program, enforcement program, financial or business plan, entrance/user fees, fisheries regulations, fishers exclusive rights, fundraising program, habitat restoration program, institutional arrangements for management, monitoring program, mooring bouys, natural resources damage assessment authority, navigational restrictions, on-site staff, permiting program, research facilities, research program, signalization, solid waste management, sustainable and environmentally sound production, tourism regulations, visitors center, volunteer program, water quality management program, zoning scheme	advisory committee, co-managment with private sector, construction regulations, education/outreach program, enforcement program, financial or business plan, entrance/user fees, fisheries regulations, fishers exclusive rights, fundraising program, mooring bouys, navigational restrictions, on-site staff, research program, solid waste management, tourism regulations, visitors center, volunteer program, zoning scheme
Zoning selected from: anchoring, buffer zone, commercial fisheries, cultural resources, diving, no-take, no permanent constructions, public use, recreational fisheries, subsistence fisheries, other	diving, no-take
Other zone types	snorkeling zone The enitre areas is no-take.
Funding sources	Goverment and private donations
Cultural resources Submerged and land features, resources or landmarks
Fisheries resources	no fishing allowed
Fisheries regulations Main fisheries regulations of the site	The entire area is no-take.
Coastal development Construction regulations	restricted
Beach management selected from: beach nourishment, vegetation restoration, beach sand cleaning regulations, groins, wave breakers, construction restrictions	beach sand cleaning regulations
Monitoring programmes selected from: coral reef health, coral reef resilience, fish surveys, ReefCheck, sea turtles, SocMon, other socioeconomic monitoring program, user patterns, water quality monitoring	coral reef health, sea turtles
Other monitoring programmes
Issues or threats for accomplishing management objectives	Lack of personnel and equipment. The entire area is no-take, but rules are infringed frequently. Patrols enforce regulations ocsassionally.
Role of site in network	national system of PA
Areas of special expertise for knowledge transfer	Co-management

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