Old marina now quiet boat launch

photos by Eric Jackson

Back in the 60s, the Chagres River lagoon just below the Gatun Spillway was home to a thriving marina, one of the social and recreational centers of Atlantic side Zonian life. The Canal Zone outlived the marina.

Now Panama is trying to figure out what to do with the recreational assets that it inherited under the 1977 Carter-Torrijos Treaties, and for the most part these facilities are being neglected or demolished. The old boat launch, however, is regularly used and there is a small dock that mostly serves small tour boats that take cruise ship passengers to Fort San Lorenzo and back.

The increase in canal traffic has meant less water coming down the spillway, which makes the lower Chagres estuary more brackish. The introduction of peacock bass into Gatun Lake in the 70s all but destroyed the snook fishing there and affected fishing conditions below as well. Brazen poaching by people who string gill nets across the mouth of the Chagres River got a foothold when the US Army tolerated it at Fort Sherman and on the Piña Range, and continues under Panamanian administration. Thus the fishing isn't what it used to be, although you can still see tarpon rolling in the lagoon and many seafood dinners are still caught below the spillway.