Your Barrier Reef is in major trouble, Belize - 08/19/11 11:01 PM
Author: Trevor Vernon
There is so much going on as it relates to our bit of the Caribbean Sea, and, in this writing I hope to open the senses about that which we hold so dear. We need to start paying attention to our things marine, because while "dawn [used to be] a fisherman," the rest of the day is pure savagery as it relates to our marine resources these days.
The only time we Belizeans seem to take serious notice of our seas is in time of hurricanes, border dispute flare-ups, or some major cocaine-related drama. And while these are important events, we must also look at protecting the "coastal zone" year round. Prevention is better than cure. Yet, we don't pay much attention when our highly efficient Coast Guard busts rebel fishermen with baby lobsters barely two (2) inches long, protected sea cucumbers, and undersized and out-of-season resources. This ambivalent attitude is not going to cost us later: it's taking its toll now. Right now!
85% of our reef is dead, dying, or in serious trouble. That's the declaration made by our senior marine conservationist on YaYa's KREM Sunday Review last Sunday. I simply had to rewind the tape during the break to make sure I heard right. Yes, Mr. Roberto Pott said 85%. This should be enough to raise all the alarms. At this rate we won't have a living and healthy reef in 10 years, which means we won't have much fish, conch, lobster and all the wonderful diet the sea provides. I was appalled. And so it is with this righteous indignation that I unapologetically committed myself to doing something about it.
And we can pretty much kiss much of our prized overnight tourism goodbye if we don't put this massive decline in check. We lose our healthy reef and we can forget growing our tourism industry regardless of which political party is in power, because the reef isn't all red this year and all blue next year.
Not a single person called in to the Sunday Review show I mentioned above. Not a single Belizean or foreigner or some combination thereof. We just couldn't care less or maybe we were too busy following the news from foreign lands. Anyway, I had to call in and could barely control myself I was so emotional. I must admit I was aware beforehand of the guest and some of the issues, but I wasn't prepared for that 85%. Belize has a relatively high density of players in the political arena of marine conservation and not a one called in to the show. Not a single one. Not even a technocrat. Simply amazing.
Anyway, the YaYa Show focused on the need for the passage of a National Coastal Zone Management Plan in order to better manage our marine resources. A pre-existing plan apparently got bogged down and disappeared into the digital wilderness we affectionately called File 13. Now, we are told to wait another year or so for a new one to pass. Where the plan is desperately needed is out in our third and final atoll that doesn't have any protected status whatsoever. We are talking Turneffe Atoll. It's the Wild, Wild West out there.
There is this sense in Turneffe that the law of the jungle prevails and the only justice is frontier justice. Yes, there's the highly efficient two-year-old Coast Guard presence at Calabash, but how can they be expected to police the entire 35-mile long atoll on 1600 gallons of fuel a month ... generators and all? So even with a new law putting the Atoll in a reserve status of some sort and the subsequent passage of the National Coastal Zone Management Plan 2012, it would still be difficult to police and maintain law and order. But, it's the least our government can do to get this ship right side up. And, most importantly, it would cost Government nothing and would only serve as another marine conservation feather in Mr. Barrow's cap.
Traditionally, here in Belize, we have tended to view the harnessing and management of our marine resources with a dismissive elitist demeanour; that unfortunate attitude is shifting ever so slowly. And this is something we all can do in our own sphere of influence: increase the profile of the sad state of our once glorious reef. Maybe when you find out that a foreign investor is using materials off our reef to construct houses and seawalls, you too will become offended. Let's hope you become aware of it before the last 15% is lost due to our ignorance, apathy, and unfettered ambivalence.
Amandala
There is so much going on as it relates to our bit of the Caribbean Sea, and, in this writing I hope to open the senses about that which we hold so dear. We need to start paying attention to our things marine, because while "dawn [used to be] a fisherman," the rest of the day is pure savagery as it relates to our marine resources these days.
The only time we Belizeans seem to take serious notice of our seas is in time of hurricanes, border dispute flare-ups, or some major cocaine-related drama. And while these are important events, we must also look at protecting the "coastal zone" year round. Prevention is better than cure. Yet, we don't pay much attention when our highly efficient Coast Guard busts rebel fishermen with baby lobsters barely two (2) inches long, protected sea cucumbers, and undersized and out-of-season resources. This ambivalent attitude is not going to cost us later: it's taking its toll now. Right now!
85% of our reef is dead, dying, or in serious trouble. That's the declaration made by our senior marine conservationist on YaYa's KREM Sunday Review last Sunday. I simply had to rewind the tape during the break to make sure I heard right. Yes, Mr. Roberto Pott said 85%. This should be enough to raise all the alarms. At this rate we won't have a living and healthy reef in 10 years, which means we won't have much fish, conch, lobster and all the wonderful diet the sea provides. I was appalled. And so it is with this righteous indignation that I unapologetically committed myself to doing something about it.
And we can pretty much kiss much of our prized overnight tourism goodbye if we don't put this massive decline in check. We lose our healthy reef and we can forget growing our tourism industry regardless of which political party is in power, because the reef isn't all red this year and all blue next year.
Not a single person called in to the Sunday Review show I mentioned above. Not a single Belizean or foreigner or some combination thereof. We just couldn't care less or maybe we were too busy following the news from foreign lands. Anyway, I had to call in and could barely control myself I was so emotional. I must admit I was aware beforehand of the guest and some of the issues, but I wasn't prepared for that 85%. Belize has a relatively high density of players in the political arena of marine conservation and not a one called in to the show. Not a single one. Not even a technocrat. Simply amazing.
Anyway, the YaYa Show focused on the need for the passage of a National Coastal Zone Management Plan in order to better manage our marine resources. A pre-existing plan apparently got bogged down and disappeared into the digital wilderness we affectionately called File 13. Now, we are told to wait another year or so for a new one to pass. Where the plan is desperately needed is out in our third and final atoll that doesn't have any protected status whatsoever. We are talking Turneffe Atoll. It's the Wild, Wild West out there.
There is this sense in Turneffe that the law of the jungle prevails and the only justice is frontier justice. Yes, there's the highly efficient two-year-old Coast Guard presence at Calabash, but how can they be expected to police the entire 35-mile long atoll on 1600 gallons of fuel a month ... generators and all? So even with a new law putting the Atoll in a reserve status of some sort and the subsequent passage of the National Coastal Zone Management Plan 2012, it would still be difficult to police and maintain law and order. But, it's the least our government can do to get this ship right side up. And, most importantly, it would cost Government nothing and would only serve as another marine conservation feather in Mr. Barrow's cap.
Traditionally, here in Belize, we have tended to view the harnessing and management of our marine resources with a dismissive elitist demeanour; that unfortunate attitude is shifting ever so slowly. And this is something we all can do in our own sphere of influence: increase the profile of the sad state of our once glorious reef. Maybe when you find out that a foreign investor is using materials off our reef to construct houses and seawalls, you too will become offended. Let's hope you become aware of it before the last 15% is lost due to our ignorance, apathy, and unfettered ambivalence.
Amandala