Manatees slaughtered in Toledo, meat is sold in Guatemala
Every once in a while Belizeans are saddened to learn that a manatee has been accidentally killed. But the incidents of intentional slaughter also seem to be on the rise. The problem is compounded by the fact that foreigners may be responsible. On Friday I was in Toledo for yet another gruesome discovery.
In the Belize District manatees are accidentally killed when the animal is hit by a boat propeller or crushed by the hull of a barge. However, in the southern district of Toledo the problem is far more disturbing with reports that manatees are being hunted and brutally killed.
Wil Maheia, Executive Director, TIDE
“TIDE is very concerned over the situation; it is very alarmed at what is taking place. We hope that more can be done that all the agencies, the governmental agencies and the non-governmental agencies could come together so that we could stop the killing of these manatees.”
Since the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment was established in 1997, the non-governmental organization has been lobbying to help save the manatee but without much success. In 1999 ten West Indian manatees were found dead…. and on Sunday, January second, TIDE made yet another gruesome discovery. Hidden in one of the mangrove cayes off Punta Gorda town was the carcass of an adult manatee. Someone caught the animal, put a rope around its neck and dragged the thirteen hundred to fifteen hundred pound mammal into the dense thicket and hacked it to death. The crime is believed to have been committed not by local fishermen, but by Guatemalan poachers who travel fifty miles across the sea to the area. According to Wil Maheia, TIDE’s Executive Director, they have received reports from the local Fishermen’s Association that manatee meat is being sold in Livingston, Guatemala.
Wil Maheia
“Well for one it is considered a delicacy in Guatemala. Two Easters ago they were serving it at Hunting Caye as a delicacy. Secondly it is an easy catch. It is an easy way to get a thousand pounds of meat; you get a thousand pounds of meat here. To catch a thousand pounds of fish takes a lot longer than to catch a manatee.”
Thomas “Skully” Garbutt, Fisherman
“Well it is easy for them. They just come at nighttime, they know exactly where the manatee live because what happens is that some of them know the area more than the local fishermen because they move around here at nighttime.”
Jacqueline Woods
“One area TIDE is trying to protect is Port Honduras. The eight hundred square kilometers includes over one hundred and thirty-five small cayes which were once heavily populated with manatees. Today only a few of these gentle sea creatures can be found.”
Wil Maheia
“Yeah in the past if you talk to the older folks there used to be herds of manatee. It used to be like cattle coming into town. If you talk to the older fishermen and they said they used to take the paddle and knock at the bottom of the boat to get the manatee out of the way. There used to be so much manatee in this area.”
Maheia says they have collected three thousand signatures from people who support the motion to declare Port Honduras a protected area but despite the petition and numerous requests to Dan Silva, the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, the area remains unprotected.
Wil Maheia
“We still can’t figure out why the Minister has refused to declare this area a protected area. He has received recommendations from the Fisheries Department, Coastal Zone Management Authority, support from all the fishermen here in the town and still the area has not been declared. We are still wondering why the area has not been declared.”
But even if it is declared a protected area, preventing poaching will take more resources. The poachers are also good at what they do.
Michael Norales, Fisheries Officer/Punta Gorda Unit
“It is difficult because they normally come out here on the new moon which is very dark. Whenever we do night patrol we have to borrow a light from the Forestry Department, a very bright light that we can, but what these people do is they plan their thing in such a way that we wouldn’t know. Yes, we would spend two, three nights out there but that is when they won’t come. I don’t know if someone is leaking information to them but I am hoping that some of them are listening… that we will be more vigilant.”
Wil Maheia
“I mean it is humiliating at times to know that we are out here trying and then manatee meat is still being sold in Guatemala and here we have the remains.”
Presently there are fewer than one hundred and fifty West Indian manatees in Southern Belize. Reporting for News Five I am Jacqueline Woods.
Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture Daniel Silva tells News Five that he personally supports the proposal to declare the Port Honduras region a protected area. However, he says while local support is growing, extensive consultations with fishermen, the mayor, area representative and area residents indicate there is still some resistance. In Silva’s words, “we cannot push this down people’s throats and cause resentment towards the environmentalists who are perceived as wanting to block off the whole area.” Silva says the fishermen still need to be convinced that a protected area will not threaten their livelihood but enhance it. He says declaring the area protected will not necessarily stop the slaughter of manatee, this can only be accomplished through increased patrols. A new fisheries officer has been appointed for Toledo and Silva believes it will not be long before positive changes are made in the area.
