Cabo Rojo

Coast

Enjoy the rocky cliff views, pink salt flats, and three coastal ecosystems off the coast of Cabo Rojo. This beautiful western side of the island has much to offer and much to conserve.

Read on to learn about this diverse area and how you can get involved to save it.

Get Involved!

According to the Conservation Action plan for Puerto Rico, the primary threats to this area include:

unsustainable or illegal fishing
climate change (higher sea temperatures)
Pollution (oil spills, contamination, trash)
Habitat loss (clearing areas for housing, tourism)
Invasive species (lionfish)

But don’t worry! This plan also lists ways to reduce these threats – and you can help too. Here are some easy ways to protect this cool watershed:

Reduce pollution – Pick up your litter on beaches and at the top of watersheds. Organize a beach cleanup and get your friends involved.
Follow fishing laws – If fisherman take more than the ecosystem can allow, there won’t be fish in the future. Educate others about overfishing and make sure everyone follows the system.
Get Involved – You can have a say. Talk to local leaders to learn what they are doing to save the areas and make a connection. You have a voice to make sure steps are taken with local communities in mind.

Coastal Defense

Mangrove

Seagrass

Coral Reef

Mangroves forests are made up of salt-resistant trees. They are important hiding spots for fish, storm buffers for the land and their roots stabilize the land against erosion.

There are 22,300 acres of mangroves in Puerto Rico but they are disappearing quickly.

Seagrass works to bind sediment, absorb nutrients and be a home for fish, manatees, and sea turtles. The seagrass is also good for algae growth. In Puerto Rico, there are five types of seagrass. Some call it the "underwater meadow."

Coral reefs add 3D structures to the ocean for more fish to live within. They also are a buffer to waves, and allow a migration of other fish species from the open ocean into the sea grass. They also exports much needed nutrients to the open ocean.

Check out the Coral Reef page to learn more about coral reef conservation.

Salt Flats History

They use the same pits that have been used for centuries to capture the salty water. Then, the sun evaporates much of the water, leaving behind very salty water. Salt crystals develop which they collect and keep in mountains of salt. The salt they collect isn’t used for food, but for industrial purposes.

A huge, white pile of salt, pink beaches, and the smell of sulfur. It doesn’t sound like a paradise for wildlife - but it is.

The Cabo Rojo Salt Flats are an important home for shorebirds, research, and history. And, in 1999, the land was added to the Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge to be protected forever.

The salt flats are very different from the three other ecosystems in the refuge (listed above), but they have their own unique purpose - and a deep history. As far back as 700 AD, the original aboriginal Araucus people used these salty shores to extract salt. In the 1600s, the Spanish arrived and took over the island and the salt extraction. Today, a private company runs the process in a pretty similar way.

The salt also brings many insects, and the predators who live to eat them. Plus, plants that love a very saline environment call Cabo Rojo home.

The 1,836 acre refuge is an important of Puerto Rico’s history and present. Read the Get Involved box above to learn what you can do to help this natural paradise.

This leaves a marshy, salty landscape for animals to live in. And they love it. Migratory birds use it as a very important stop on their long journey through the eastern Caribbean. In the fall and spring, the salt flats are covered in by thousands of resting birds