It's nice to see another area being protected, but why couldn't the Belizean Gov. make it into a National Park ?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mel S: please do not take this as me picking on what you said. Your statement and question are good. I would just hope that people would look deeper for solutions and question actions to be sure they accomplish the desired results.
The area being "protected" is a traditional fishing grounds for Belize fishermen. There are families that have made their livelyhood, and still make their livelyhood, fishing these waters. I am not aware of any scientific study that has been done to determine the viability of that fishery. When other fisheries have been studied and found to be declining, there have been quotas and limits put on the harvesting. To make a determination that this fishery is in such dyer shape that it must go from a fishery to a protected area overnight seems unfounded and unfair to the fishermen. And to use the logic that it is being done to protect the whale sharks, whose only threat other than killer whales is the harassment by man, and then propose the expansion of that harassment under the eco-tourism lable seems of questionable logic to me.
I by no meens attempt to represent myself as any authority on this. I would much prefer to have a true scientific study be made by those trained for that. But, I have fished and dived that area for over 25 years and have been there almost every year during the months of April and May when the whale sharks appear. The only major change I have noticed is the proliferation of dive boats the last three years bring people to dive with the whale sharks.
Just my thoughts in an attempt to get people to look a little deeper (that is a pun, diving with whale sharks, deeper)