Reef rangers upgrade skills

The Belize Barrier Reef, a world heritage site, is perhaps the country’s best known tourist attraction. But our reef forms the core of a larger entity known internationally as the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System. With more than sixty marine protected areas included in the M.B.R.S., two dozen park rangers, who work at sites from Mexico to Panama, are meeting this week in Belize to share information aimed at improving management of these areas. According to Natural Resources specialist, Oscar Francisco Lara, helping the rangers to improve their skills will in the long run protect the region’s heritage.

Oscar Francisco Lara, Natural Resources Mgmt. Specialist

“The best principles for the management of marine protected areas including all the information needed to improve their jobs. We’re showing them different kinds of ecosystems, ecology of the sea, species, and different levels of care for the different species, and management of the public use and tourism, and patrol to control over fishing.”

Patrick Jones

“What is it that you are hoping that the rangers will walk away from this one week seminar with?”

Oscar Francisco Lara

“If you can see in the room, we make a manual. We make the manual in both versions, English and Spanish. We work with a first draft and when improve it with the people, then we make the final versions and distribute it. We have the rangers improve our job and then they can make a massive training in their countries, with more people using the manual and support from M.B.R.S.”

The park rangers training course, which is being held at the Princess Hotel in Belize City, includes practical and theoretical concepts and will involve a field trip to the Hol Chan Marine Reserve off Ambergris Caye, as well as the Bacalar Chico National Park. The workshop ends on Friday.