Village unites, gets UN help to preserve hicatee
Last year I paid a visit to an idyllic village in the Belize district to view the start of a unique conservation project. This morning I returned to find that life on the river is getting better.
Located just three miles in from Hattieville Village on the Western Highway, the small village of Freetown Sibun is slowly being transformed. Not only have the villagers been working hard to attract Belizeans and foreigners to their pleasant haven along the Sibun River, but since May of 1997, they have established a conservation group, to save one of its precious resources from extinction: the hicatee. June Neal is the project coordinator.
June Neal, Project Coordinator
“Well so far we have been sending out patrols twice a week and these patrols have helped a great deal in keeping down the numbers of hicatee caught this year alone. We send these guys out on the river along with the police officers, so they have the authority to arrest in case they find illegal fishing of the hicatee and in that way we find out that the guys, they have slowed down a lot. We have also been putting out the word that the hicatee are endangered and a lot of people did not understand that.”
Hicatees were not only caught by diving, but also by laying nets and cutting down the trees and branches along the river bank. Augustine Obispo, the village chairman suspects the illegal practice has been going on for many years, but it was not until 1990, the problem became evident.
Augustine Obispo, Chairman, Freetown Sibun Village
“In Sibun, when we had only the river as a means of transport to the city and from the city, you could find hicatee so regular along the riverside, because the time when they feed, they come along the river and eat the bush and whatever fruit drop from the trees. So that is what they used to eat, and you know, because of that, people used to cut along the river and cut the bush. And there are times when the bush stay down and the hicatee stay under it because that the rubbish, we call it rubbish, under the water. They used that as a hide for the young ones because when they come out of the shell, they go right into the river and if no protection is there to hide from the big fish or whatever animals, they will die for certain. So that help damage the production of the hicatee.”
Regular checks on the river are done to see if the water is right for the survival of marine life. According to Patrick Scott, coordinator of the Sibun Watershed Programme, which is in charge of the water inspection, recent tests on the river reveal that it is clean.
Patrick Scott, Coordinator, Sibun Watershed Programme
“The condition of the Sibun River according to testing the University of Baylor came up with, we work very closely, they give us special attention and they work with us as part of a contribution because their students come here and study the river-the watershed. So Sibun River is the top river in Belize right now. The oxygen level is very good. It’s at seven point zero and the nitrate level is very low because too much nitrate in the water will cause deform baby and so forth. And the coliform bacteria from septic is practically zero and that means this water you can drink it; you do not need to boil it.”
The Hicatee Conservation Project, which is funded by U.N.D.P.’s Small Grants Programme, will cost eighty thousand dollars to complete. Half of that amount was given to Neal early last year to start the program. Neal explained while it took sometime for them to complete some of the activities due to a shortage of manpower, they nevertheless managed to accomplish a lot.
June Neal
“Well with the initial forty thousand funding we did mostly training and getting together our picnic facilities and our other small infrastructures like our bathroom facilities and getting the patrol started. So a lot of the infrastructure has been put in place so far and that leads us into the bigger things, which is like our visitor center, and putting up our piers and getting ready for the tourism season that is coming up.”
Today, during a short handing over ceremony, the group was handed the final payment of close to forty thousand dollars. Neal told us what projects will be undertaken.
June Neal
“The first thing that we are going to do is getting our visitors’ center established. What we have established, we are now able to look into the alternative income generation, such as tourism services. Our ladies have been trained. We have small business training for our people. So they are now ready to get some money back into the environment in a safe way. So that is one of the major things that we will be looking at.”
Phillip Balderamos, the National Coordinator of U.N.D.P.’s Small Grants Programme, notes that the community has used the contribution efficiently.
Phillip Balderamos, National Coordinator, U.N.D.P./ G.E.F.
“In fact, we actually received a report on the use of those funds and the funds were properly used to carry out the first part of the project as reported in the meeting. We are very impressed with the level of community participation – the actual accounting for the funding and actually the activities because this community being small and remote didn’t have much activities taking place and now the people are really involved.”
As a treat we were taken for a ride on the Sibun River. Although due to recent rains, the water was not crystal clear and there were no hicatee to be seen, the tour nevertheless gave us a panoramic view of the wildlife that thrives on the riverbank. All that’s missing are the tourists…. and not just foreigners.
The underwater video shots of the hicatee were provided courtesy of the Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Centre.
