Chira Island is a

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

n Pacific island located at the upper end of the

Gulf of Nicoya The Gulf of Nicoya () is an inlet of the Pacific Ocean. It separates the Nicoya Peninsula from the mainland of Costa Rica, and encompasses a marine and coastal landscape of wetlands, rocky islands and cliffs. The first Spanish landing in Nicaragua ...

, belonging to the

Puntarenas Puntarenas () is a city in the Puntarenas Province, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. As the seat of the Municipality of Puntarenas canton, it is awarded the title of city, which comprises the Puntarenas, Chacarita and El Roble districts. A ...

canton, in the

province of Costa Rica.

History

Chira district was created on 28 September 1998 by Decreto Ejecutivo 27396-G.

Geography

Chira has an area of km² and an elevation of metres. It possesses an extensive inlet of seawater that is the result of a geological fault that has caused the land to submerge, leaving exposed only the tops of what were formerly low hills. These are the various islands that dot the Gulf, the largest of which being the Island of Chira - Costa Rica's second largest island. The Gulf of Nicoya separates Guanacaste from mainland

and is fed by the

Tempisque River The Tempisque River, or Río Tempisque, is long, located entirely in Costa Rica flowing from the Guanacaste Cordillera near the Orosí Volcano and emptying into the Gulf of Nicoya. It passes through the Palo Verde National Park and is an import ...

. Chira Island lies just off San Pablo, Guanacaste. The island is also a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

in Puntarenas Canton,

. Ecologically, Chira contains the most intact biodiversity of

tropical dry forest The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive ...

flora in Costa Rica, if not Central America. Six villages make up the bulk of the population of Chira Island, located along the Northern edge of the island, from the West end to the East End. The eastern end of the island is dominated by mangrove swamps.

Demographics

For the 2011 census, Chira had a population of inhabitants.

Economy

The main economic activity is

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

, farming or work on the salt pans. These salt pans are popular with roseate spoonbills and other wading birds. ''Chira Island'' is bisected by a large estuary to the east leading into a canal through vast

mangrove swamp Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangrove trees cannot withs ...

s. There is only a little accommodation on the island. From

a daily boat goes to Isla Chira from the fish market. Hire-boats might be available in Pájaros or San Pablo. Due to the reliance on marine resources and alternative industries being limited in number, significant pressure has been put on the island's natural resources. Due to this, a project has been developed to establish a bank of

mollusks Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The num ...

('' Anadara tuberculosa'' and ''Anadara similis''), a kind of

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...

for

artisan fishing Artisanal, subsistence, or traditional fishing consists of various small-scale, low-technology, fishing practices undertaken by individual fishermen (as opposed to commercial fishing). Many of these households are of coastal or island ethnic g ...

, in order to create a commercially viable resource for long-term economic development. Additionally, attempts have been made to encourage various activities related with tourism, primarily using the Island's natural and geographical resources, such as the

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

swamps and the

, as well as the local culture. Each year in June and July, there is a national bike race, as well as a running race, for those that want to explore the natural and unexplored beauty of the island.

External links

Posada Rural La Amistad
- Women's Ecotourism Association, including cabins, on Isla de Chira

- Islands in the Gulf.

References

Districts of Puntarenas Province Populated places in Puntarenas Province Districts of Costa Rica Pacific islands of Costa Rica Geography of Guanacaste Province {{Guanacaste-geo-stub