Coalition Says No Agenda Other Than to Save Belize’s Fisheries

The Coalition recently presented a formal proposal to government calling for an end to all gillnet fishing in Belizean waters, following a one-year phase-out period.  The proposal includes a commitment by the Coalition to provide at least one million Belize dollars to assist license gillnet fishermen in transitioning to more sustainable fishing methods or other alternative livelihoods.

Andrew Roe, Chair, Coalition for Sustainable Fisheries

“We had applied to the Fisheries Department to provide us with the information on how many licensed gillnet users there are in the country.  We eventually got hold of the information are now aware of all users, all licensed users of gillnets.  Only eighty-three licensed gillnet fishermen in the country of Belize, it makes it a lot easier for a transition to take place if you‘re only dealing with eighty-three.  And to put that into context, that‘s eighty-three out of about twenty-five hundred licensed fishermen in the country.  So a movement of eighty-three fishermen, especially eighty-three fishermen who use this method as supplemental income is a lot easier or a lot less challenging than moving a substantial amount, maybe a thousand or the whole twenty-five hundred fishermen to an alternative livelihood.”

Isani Cayetano

“Now the Coalition issued a release last Friday, can you speak to us on the perspective that is being taken in respect of that release and who perhaps the general target audience of the release is?”

Andrew Roe

Andrew Roe

“The perspective of the Coalition is that we want to, it’s a grassroots movement, we want people to understand that.  This is not anybody pushing an agenda for a specific purpose other than for the benefit of the Belizean economy and for the benefit of commercial fishermen and sports fishermen and the tourism industry, all the stakeholders who are involved in some way the fishing industry.”