OCEANA Produces First Fisheries Audit Report

Janelle Chanona

Fishing sustains families across the country, but maintaining stocks and the environment the fish thrive in is just as important as the economic benefits. Today, Oceana Belize released its first annual Fishery Audit. Modeled off Brazil’s Oceana Audit, the exercise seeks to examine the status of key fisheries stock in Belize, while evaluating the effectiveness of management measures already in place. The audit also offers recommended solutions for improved management moving forward. The findings of Ocean Belize’s first Audit reveal that Belize is strong on policy, but weak on implementation. Based on publicly accessible data, the audit scored several indicators. Those scores, for the most part, were low. That is because according to OCEANA, a lot of the information needed to conduct the assessment is not publicly available. Despite the limited information, Janelle Chanona, Vice President at Oceana Belize says she is hopeful for the future of the audit.

Janelle Chanona

Janelle Chanona, Vice President, OCEANA Belize

“I personally I am optimistic looking forward to future audits because I am very hopeful for a couple reasons that the pendulum will swing a lot further to the right. I know we have some low figures for this first audit. But, I think as this tool becomes the usefulness of this tool to media, students, the scientific community, to governance partners that it will grow. So, I am very confident that the next audit will have much more significant numbers in terms of double digits, if not high double digits. This is important in terms of changing what is here, the status quo in terms of lack of information, lack of access, because we need to promoting, collectively, informed decisions. And, we want that even you the media, as you are doing your stories; you have access to the information so that you can make your report as comprehensive and informative as possible. That is critical to us because that goes a long way in supporting the livelihoods of Belizean fishers in making sure that we have the opportunities to support them and making sure that we are creating stability both in terms of the stock itself and therefore their livelihoods, but also the economic value that they contribute to the economy.”