MAMMALS RETURN TO HOME The whales need the warm waters of Panama /http://www.laestrella.com.pa/online/impreso/2013/08/28/las-ballenas-necesitan-las-aguas-calidas-de-panama.asp

MAMMALS RETURN TO HOME
The whales need the warm waters of Panama
AITOR IRIBERRI
airiberri@laestrella.com.pa
They come every year our seas to mate and bear their young . Panama is the only country that has a map of sightings , but lack support for the final state



SPECIES . Whale watching moves about $ 2 billion a year worldwide . Photo: Courtesy

The whales need the warm waters of Panama
CONTRIBUTION . The sighting map initiative was born in Panama . Photo: Courtesy




2013-08-28 - 12:00:00 AM - PANAMA . ' The first version of the map of whale watching in the world did it in an internet cafe . I grabbed a map and as I knew where were the areas where whales were seen in Panama , invented to put a ' tail ' to these areas . This first map was published in late 2003 and was the first version in the world , "explained Gabriel Despaigne , president of the Panama Green Association .

According to the environmentalist, in 2002 we developed a strategy to bring the alignment Panama whaling countries , to become a conservationist country . It established three important points: Removing Panama alignment with the Japanese, achieve declare all waters as whale sanctuary and promote whales as flagship species for environmental protection. This was due to promote the sighting of whales . ' By promoting whale watching is achieved stocks added to the conservation of the species and also inject economy coastal-marine populations suffering from extreme poverty , " said Despaigne .

Whale watching moves about $ 2 billion a year in the world and has a growth of 12 % , so it would be very important that the world know that in Panama the activity rests with a map.

However, there is much to be done, said the researcher , adding that has not yet been achieved that the Panamanian - at least this administration -impulse the final stages to finish the map .

' We are trying to get at the next meeting , on 2 September on the Panama Marine Corridor for the protection of marine mammals, is achieved runner support also propel the Aquatic Resources Authority of Panama , the National Authority Environment and other state agencies such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which have to do with the International Whaling Committee ' .

The important thing , he notes , ' is to join efforts to complete phases Panama map and promote international stage ' .

ARE ' PANAMANIAN '

You could say that ' whales are Panamanian ' , as they come to the warm waters of our country to give birth to their young mainly . ' They are born without a layer of fat to withstand the cold temperatures of polar waters. They would die of cold if they are born there, " describes .

The whales migrate from polar areas to Panama to give birth to their young and here breastfeed for 8 or 9 months, during which they developed the fat layer . It is then returned to the polar waters .

' The waters of Panama are a fundamental part in the development of the whales because here bear their young , teach them to swim and mate ' . Even Smithsonian studies have documented whale genetic exchange between northern and southern Isthmus waters , because the whales are accompanied by their partner.

THREATS

But pollution of the seas , along with climate change, are some of the threats that could affect breeding areas these mammals , and the impact on navigation of ships transiting the Panama Canal . In this sense, the Smithsonian is developing a job with the Panama Canal Authority to define navigation routes in order to create conditions and inform these vessels transiting speeds to avoid areas where the whales.