On May 12th 2022, seven fishermen were found guilty in the San Pedro Town Magistrate Court for offences committed against the Fisheries Act as per details below.

These cases were a result of patrols conducted by #holchanmarinereserve

Enforcement and Operations Team in collaboration with the #belizecoastguard in April and early May of 2022, within and adjacent to the Hol Chan Marine Reserve.

Hol Chan Marine Reserve has increased its enforcement efforts throughout the entire Reserve including the reef side, western portions and as well as establishment checks. We would like to remind the general public that any offences committed against the Fisheries Act or Hol Chan Marine Reserve Statutory Instrument (S.I) can lead to prosecution.

Kindly note that all persons on a fishing vessel, engaged in commercial fishing are required to have a fisherfolk license and the vessel must also be registered with the #belizefisheriesdepartment. All Marine products caught must be within season and the legally required size limits.

Anyone who has any information on Fisheries violations or other concerns can contact the Hol Chan Marine Reserve at 226-2247 or via Whatsapp at 615-8673.

How fantastic that definite action was taking against these low life creeps who are devastating our natural resources. I hope that they are made to pay their fines and if the do not pay, they should be sent to prison.There should be no mercy.

Congratulations to the people of Hol Chan Marine and the others for catching and prosecuting these guys.

There is NOTHING more important than protecting our waters and marine life. The future of the entire country depends on this protection.

I live north of Costa Blu and here is what I have personally observed in the last 15 years:

In 2005 I could walk into the water at night with a flashlight and get all the lobster I wanted.

As recently as 2015 I could go fishing for snapper inside the reef and come back in 3-4 hours with a dozen good fish to eat and share with neighbors.

Two years ago I could go off my dock and in 30 minutes get 3-4 conch for ceviche.

NONE of this is possible anymore. The Playadores have taken everything they can from our waters no matter what size the conch, lobster or fish may be.
These criminals and others like them need to be stopped and FINED BIG TIME!

It's up to all of us to help preserve the future of Belize.

There are many other reasons besides fishing without a license and harvesting under size conch that contribute to you not being able to catch what you used to be able to. Understanding that these fishermen were breaking the law.
Supply and demand need to be considered. Over fishing, illegal and legal, are one of the factors. San Pedro used to be a small fishing village of a thousand people at one time. Now there are, who knows, thirty or forty thousand people on the island at one time and too many restaurants to count serving those people. And, those restaurants aren’t all serving just rice and beans. One the bright side, at least with conch, lobster and fish on most of their menus, thankfully none that I am aware of have turtle eggs and manatee on the menus. And years ago San Pedranos could probably get all the mature conch they wanted to eat without harvesting immature ones.
So I submit that supply and demand are a major factor.
I won’t further bore you with other factors like destruction of the basic marine ecosystem, pollution of the waters created by the increase in population.
The never ending competition between what Mother Nature provides and what people want.
One other factor to consider. Belize earns considerable revenue from the export of conch and lobster. One could question how much importance is placed on the revenue from that as opposed to adequately managing the resource. Could possibly shifting some of the exports to consumption in country lesson the need to harvest under sized?
It’s interesting to me that I can eat Belize lobster any month of the year at Red Lobster, which I don’t, but can’t legally eat it 4 months of the year in Belize.