Dredging is not always bad. There are many areas that can be dredged for the benefit of all an example being the river. San Mateo could certainly use the fill and the river needs to be deeper. Using dredging on the west coast of North Ambergris Caye to enhance development of residential areas to take development pressure off San Pedro is another example of responsible use of dredging in a less sensitive area. This is opposed to allowing dredging for rich investor/developers in super sensitive areas that irreversibly destroy the environment that supports us all.
It has long been the accepted practice to hand dig entry canals for boats and requires no permit. Only in the last few years has this been allowed.
The Minister is right the damage is cumulative and the impact of precedent is
one of the biggest problems. These are the very reasons it must be stopped. You dont compound a bad decision by making another bad decision. You learn from mistakes and change when need to, not simply stand by your guns.
The Minister and Town Council dont seem to realize that tourists come because of the fish and our pristine environment.
I recently had a tourist express how much nicer the water was up north and why was it so different in front of San Pedro. The answer of course is all the shallows have been dredged out.