Laughing Bird Caye upgrades facilities
If you’ve ever spent any time hanging out on the Placencia Peninsula, chances are you’ve made at least one trip to Laughing Bird Caye. As the area becomes more popular with tourists both foreign and local, steps are being taken to safeguard the island’s attractions, while at the same time expanding its appeal.
This story starts with one bird and continues with several villages and NGOs forming a partnership to protect and preserve a unique island and its surrounding reef system.
Jose Sanchez
“Placencia has been recognized as one of Belize’s most popular tourist destinations, and Laughing Bird Caye, being so near to it had its share of visitors. During the late 80’s while tour guides were bringing tourists out to the island, they noticed survey markers strewn along the island, and that’s when all the problems began.”
Brian Young, Co-Chairman Friends of Laughing Bird Caye
“Some people did a little investigation, and found out that some people were looking to develop the island, put in a small resort on the island. That wasn’t in the interest of the Placencia villagers. Because of that the villagers then started a petition which was signed by the villagers in Placencia and it was taken around to the neighboring villages, Monkey River, Seine Bight and Independence as well. We got the support of all the neighboring villages to protect the caye. That was sent into government and that was how the government started out the area being a reserve, fighting from that time on and then the area was declared in 1991.”
And since that year, the villages have joined forces to form The Friends of Laughing Bird Caye. The group is working to develop and house a management system for the National Park. Today they achieved part of that objective as The Global Environmental Facility Small Grants Program donated $35,000 to that effort.
Philip Balderamos, National Coordinator, G.E.F.
“The G.E.F. small grants program is working in partnerships with other organizations such as the Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute, the Nature Conservancy, Peace Corps, and the Fisheries Department to fund the project that will put in place basic infrastructure and protection for the island working with the communities.”
Laughing Bird Caye National Park protects significant environmental resources. The island is well known for its diversity of coral and fish, and for many decades, has also served as a very vital stop over point for migrating birds.
Brian Young
“I could remember from a little boy when my father used to bring me to Laughing Bird Caye. We used to see hundreds of birds nesting and flying over that point out there. Where back then my father would tell you that the birds were laughing birds. When I grew up and starting being a birder and learned a little bit more about birds, we found out that there were mostly Turns as well as Laughing Birds, used to nest on the point. Well, our older ancestors used to refer to all the birds as laughing bird. That’s how the caye got its name Laughing Bird.”
But how the caye got its name is academic…As few of the Laughing Birds remain, opinions differ as to the reason for the flight.
Brian Young
“So you have two theories, there is a controversy which one might be correct. Maybe none of them is correct, but either the birds left the area because of the damage the hurricane did or because people used to pick the eggs. Well now we have seen a few of the birds coming back to the area laying eggs again.”
But the story of the island is not all about birds. A few years after island was declared a reserve, environmental groups took note of the site and found out that there was more that needed to be protected than its sandy beach.
Janet Gibson, Director of Coastal Zone Management Institute
“The World Heritage Site, which was established at the end of 1997, is actually comprised of seven discreet sites, marine protected areas, and of course Laughing Bird Caye National Park is one of them. And each of the seven different protected areas has unique characteristics. In the case of Laughing Bird Caye, the national park does not only include the island itself, but it includes the whole faro, which is a very unique kind of reef formation, which we find occurring in the southern part of our barrier reef lagoon. This faro is particularly, a well developed one. If you took a run across the inner lagoon of the faro, you would see that it is particularly a well-developed one. You would see that it has tremendous pinnacles of reef coming up from the bottom, right across, very jagged pinnacles, right across the lagoon, so that is very unusual.”
And thanks to some determined Belizeans and a bit of help from abroad, the unusual joys of Laughing Bird Caye will be around for all of us to enjoy for a good while to come. Reporting for News Five, I am Jose Sanchez.
The G.E.F. plans to donate a total of $80,000 to the Friends of Laughing Bird Caye to assist in the park’s management.
