More than 30 hawksbills nested there in 1995 and in that same year, at least 5 were illegally captured. Due to the combined efforts of CCAM and the STRN, several were saved. By the 1980s there were only about ten left. Their numbers have continued to decline despite legal protection and it seems that one lonely mother and her calf are now the sole survivors in the Bight. Fewer than 60 remain in Jamaican waters so the pair in Portland Bight is of national significance.
Manatees live on seagrass.
Like grasses on land, the more seagrasses are cropped, the faster they grow, so the loss of the big grazing marine animals, like manatees and green turtles, means that less sea grass is produced. Fewer nutrients are therefore made available for fish and so their populations decline. Whales Believe it or not, there are whales to be found in the waters of Portland Bight.