Swallow Caye: Newest protected area
The boys and girls at the Y were not the only happy swimmers in Belize City today. This morning at the Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute a statutory instrument was signed that should make life easier for another group of aquatic mammals.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
For many manatees, the mangrove islands off the coast of Belize are a safe underwater haven. But in recent years, increased boat traffic, especially near Belize City, has killed several and injured dozens of the gentle creatures. It is a situation that has haunted seventy-three year old Lionel “Chocolate” Heredia for almost two decades. That’s how long he’s been working to have close to nine thousand acres of mangroves, in the vicinity of Swallow Caye just a few miles east of Belize City, declared a wildlife sanctuary. Today, Heredia’s dream became a reality.
Lionel “Chocolate” Heredia, Friends of Swallow Caye
“The love of those animals makes me have more strength to try to protect them. If I tell you all that I went through, you wouldn’t believe it. I always believe as one of the first tour guides in 1968, right at the Swing Bridge I started, we have to protect the areas for the other generation weh coming. You could do it; if I could do it and I come from nothing, somebody else could do it. And we have to stand up for our country, our beautiful country, but we need to preserve and have regulations and respect for the parks of Belize.”
With management assistance from Heredia’s group, Friends of Swallow Caye, and support from the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute, it is hoped that boat traffic can be re-routed and infrastructure, such as a wooden deck, can be built, all in an effort to limit the negative impact humans have on the life of the manatee.
Lionel “Chocolate” Heredia
“This area means to Belize one of the best areas, one of the areas that could give more educational tours to learn the life of the manatees and to better off the park. My idea is to better off the park and give more freedom to the animals, no harassment. Like right now everybody rushing sake of the big dollars that they charge on the trips, and everybody just pushing this one and pushing the other one. No, I don’t want nothing like that. My idea is to make it more official, more educational.”
According to Minister of the Environment Johnny Briceño, such initiatives to sustainably develop the country’s natural resources will ensure the fragile environment will be protected for generations to come.
Johnny Briceño, Min. of Nat. Resources/Environment
“One of the problems that we have in Belize is that yes, we boast that forty-two percent of the country in a protected status, but the challenge now is how it is that we can ensure that it remains in that state. There are many, many areas that we have declared as a reserve, but we have no one working out there. The ministry by itself cannot do it; we don’t have the manpower, or the wherewithal to do it. So the only way we can do it is by creating partnerships and this is what makes me more hopeful of what we’re doing, that more than ever we’re creating partnerships with people, the community that are on the ground and they are the ones. It is in their interest to make sure that they protect it. Because we hope at the end of the day they are going to benefit also financially.”
But for people like “Chocolate” Heredia, monetary incentives pale in comparison to the joy he experiences educating visitors to Belize about the animals he loves so much. Reporting for News 5, I am Janelle Chanona.
The Swallow Caye Wildlife Sanctuary encompasses some eight thousand, nine hundred and seventy acres. The group “Friends of Swallow Caye” includes local tour operators and tour guides.
