In February, 1997, the Mayor and City Council of Bocas del Toro declared Bluff Beach a Municipal Reserve. This designation provided protections for this regionally important nesting beach. In 1999, the reserve was officially regulated.
In 2010, the Sea Turtle Conservancy (STC) promoted the creation of a community organization to conduct beach monitoring and scientific research in cooperation with other important stakeholders in the región, such as the Smithsonian Institute and Alianza Bocas. In 2011, with the support of USAID, STC was able to start the MAREA Project and establish a community sea turtle organization, ANABOCA.
In 2012, ANABOCA began an eco-tourism program to take people out on the beach to observe a nesting sea Turtle using both local and international trained guides. To date, thousands of tourists have enjoyed the amazing experience of observing a sea turtle laying its eggs.
