Senator Chanona’s First Day in the Upper House

Janelle Chanona

Today’s special sitting of the Senate, hard on the heels of Tuesday’s house meeting to present the budget for the 2022 fiscal year, was Janelle Chanona’s maiden appearance as senator for the N.G.O. community. Her seat as the thirteenth senator gave rise to the backing of an amendment that deals with Belize’s fisheries. Aside from her new office as a parliamentarian, Chanona is also the Vice President of Oceana in Belize and has been an advocate for the enforcement of fisheries regulation.

Janelle Chanona, N.G.O. Senator

“We rise in support of the amendments, but also to emphasize that it’s not just about safeguarding the resources themselves but the livelihoods of those who depend on those resources. I cannot tell you enough how often we’ve heard from the fishers, licensed Belizean fishers lamenting that there is not enough being done to make sure that illegal activity is deterred. We’ve just come off Reef Week, an annual week to celebrate and champion, as well as to highlight the obstacles facing our natural resources and illegal fishing and illegal activity are on our watch and are featured prominently. So, alongside that though, we do call out that in those discussions and it’s been a perennial issue it has been flagged that having the law is where we need to start but as we’ve just heard earlier, having the resources to enforce that law and to make sure that capacity is there is also very real. We continue to be confronted in the sector with having rising fuel prices. We continue to be confronted slashed government budgets as cost-saving efforts to government agencies, donor communities telling our Belizean N.G.O.s that they will not be able to fund fuel, so alongside support for this law, we also call out the continued importance of making sure that clear and present we are also assisting at every juncture, every opportunity the resources to make sure that the natural capital of this country is being protected and safeguarded, not just for the benefit of those resources themselves but for the tens of thousands of Belizeans who depend on those resources.”