The Effects of Panama's Cuna Indians On Coral Reefs
Porter J and Porter K. 1973. The Effects of Panama's Cuna Indians On Coral Reefs. Discovery. 8(2):65 - 70
Off the Atlantic coast of Panama lie a group of some 400 tiny islands dotting the coast line from 75 miles east of Colon (the Atlantic port city of the Panama Canal) eastward almost two-thirds of the way to the Columbian border. On these islands and along the coastal rivers draining into the Atlantic live the Cuna Indians, one of Panama's three distinct Indian groups. As graduate students in the Yale Department of Biology and with support from the Peabody Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Institution, we were studying coral reefs on opposite sides of the Isthmus of Panama and were able to live for a year in the San Blas Islands amongst the Cuna. What follows are a few of our brief impressions on the effects of the Cuna Indians on their natural surroundings. They indicate that a very delicate balance between a native Indian culture and its environment is in the early stages of demise.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Porter, James; Porter, Karen
- Units
- SFCN
- Keywords
- Fisheries, Human Impact, interaction, Marine, Resource