Public needs to honor closed lobster season
Earlier this week, we reminded you that the lobster season closed on February fifteenth and won’t reopen until July. Tonight, in the final segment of our two-part special on lobster fishing in Belize, we take a look at why it is critical for the fishermen, and the public, to honor the closed season.
With prices holding at a reasonable level and total exports on the rise it would appear that the story of lobster fishing in Belize is one of unqualified success, yet in all segments of the industry government and scientific community one hears talk of concern, concern over how long this valuable resource will be with us. The question of whether we are overexploiting our lobster fisheries has been discussed for years and it is not idle chatter.
Elsewhere in the world once plentiful lobster grounds now produce almost nothing. Can the same happen to Belize? Janet Gibson is a marine biologist and former fisheries officer.
Janet Gibson, Marine Biologist
“When you are dealing with natural populations in this case lobster there will always be ups and downs because the population is responding to lots of other factors, for example physical factors like the weather or it might be environmental factors such as the availability of food. So there will always be natural ups and dips in the catches.
However, why I say there is reason for concern is that going back let’s say as far as 1965 there were these natural fluctuations in the catches of lobster but they were all around a mean of around 350 to 400 thousand pounds, but in 1981 there was a sharp increase in catches and ever since then the level has been much higher. And it was felt in the earlier days that this 400,000 pound level was probably a maximum sustainable yield and if that is the case then we are catching much more than the maximum sustainable yield now and therefore I believe there is cause for concern because if that 400,000 pounds is your level and you’re catching way beyond that then you’re having the risk that you are taking out more lobster, too many lobsters, that you are not leaving enough to repopulate the population.”
Although scientific opinion is not unanimous on what constitutes the maximum sustainable yield, to ensure that the lobster will have every chance to naturally regenerate the government has passed laws placing certain restrictions on lobster fishing but however well intentioned, the laws may mean little if they are not enforced. Out of season and undersized lobsters are frequently seen in restaurants and even the markets. Perhaps the biggest threat comes from foreign fishermen largely from the neighboring republics who work Belizean waters without license throughout the year. Placencian Brian Young sees this as a major factor in his cooperative’s declining catch.
Brian Young
“We don’t really know the reason why but one of the reasons for sure we know is that illegal fishing has a lot to do with this. Because when you have aliens and some of your own people doing illegal fishing they take up to the juveniles because they can sell them over in Honduras. So that causes a great problem on the declining of lobster.”
Another potential threat to the lobster industry is environmental. As changes take place on the land they can critically affect our sea.
Janet Gibson
“The environmental threat of run-off from pesticides and fertilizers from the agricultural areas and also the run-off of silt because of deforestation and land clearing inland is really a very critical issue right now. We also have to think of mangroves because in part of the life history of the lobster, the young lobster, the post larvae, inhabit mangrove areas. That’s the nursery area for lobsters. So if we are going to be destroying our mangroves we are ruining the habitat of part of the lifecycle of the lobster and that will definitely have an effect on the fisheries as well.”
Although there is no shortage of threats to the lobster industry we are fortunate that the fishing cooperatives, government and environmentalists are willing to work together for their common benefit. Steps are being taken to increase maritime patrolling and to deputize greater numbers of knowledgeable fisheries officers. Stricter environmental controls are being enacted on pesticide use and land clearing practices.
But the greatest deterrent to the destruction of our marine resources is the attitude of the public. If people continue to support illegal fishing by buying undersized or out of season lobster we should not be surprised when one day there are no lobster of any size.
Charles Heusner, Fisherman
“The laws are there to protect the industry; if proper off-season patrolling and proper laws: undersized lobsters not being taken out, lobsters with spawn. If those things are properly adhered to by the fishermen Belize will always have a lobster industry because we have the waters, we have the rocks, we don’t have the pollution here. So this industry can continue for a next hundred years.”
Tonight’s presentation, narrated by Liborio Ayuso, was part of a longer documentary produced by the Belize Fishermen’s Cooperative Association and Channel 5.
