Fishing co-op look to conserve resources
Connoisseurs of fine cuisine will have to forgive us, but we somehow allowed a very important date on the calendar to pass unnoticed. That date was the fifteenth of June and the event it marked was the official opening of lobster season. But while fishermen and food lovers are now busy catching and eating, the long-range viability of the industry remains in doubt. As a way to educate the fishing community and the general public the Belize Fisherman’s Cooperative Association asked us to look into the issue of conserving this valuable resource. Tonight we’ll show you the first part of what we came up with.
The territorial waters of Belize stretch over thousands of square miles encompassing mangrove estuaries, shallow beds of sea grass, white sand cayes, spectacular coral reefs and deep blue sea.
It is a panorama of impressive power and unsurpassed beauty, an attraction that draws increasing numbers of visitors to our shores, to see up close all that nature has to offer. But the riches of this vast underwater world lie not just in its beauty, as these varied habitats and the life they support also provide our growing population with some of the highest quality food on Earth. Dozens of different types of protein rich fish, mouth watering lobster, shrimp, crab and conch. All this abundance of marine life not only nourishes our bodies; it also feeds the Belizean economy with millions of dollars in foreign exchange and thousands of jobs for Belizean families.
For many reasons then, the sea is one of the nation’s most vital natural resources. The problem is that we often forget that this precious resource is not infinite… and we run the risk of damaging or even destroying it by our own careless actions.
Since ancient times the inhabitants of what is now Belize have made great use of the area’s marine resources. Over two thousand years ago the Maya established extensive trade routes using the rivers, lagoons and sea to exchange goods over long distances. These waters were also a valuable source of food as well as ceremonial objects like stingray spines, which were used for ritual bloodletting. It is speculated that at one time Belize may have supported a population of close to a million, and it is likely that the sea played a big roll in making that society so prosperous. But if so many more people lived here back then, as compared to now, why didn’t they deplete the area’s marine resources?
The main reason is technology. With only dugout canoes and primitive spears and nets the ability of the ancient Maya to exploit the sea was severely limited. Even when the first Europeans arrived with their large sailing ships and metal fishing hooks there was little chance that they could catch more than an insignificant fraction of the sea’s seemingly limitless bounty. But the end of the second World War saw the development of new technology which would forever change the balance between man and the sea. Outboard motors allowed a single fisherman to cover vast areas in a short time, and refrigeration gave him the luxury to store his catch and sell it almost anywhere in the world.
At the same time much of the Earth’s population grew more prosperous, acquiring a taste for the particular delicacies that Belize was able to offer: Rock lobster, conch and highly valued scalefish like snapper and grouper. Fishing was thus transformed from a subsistence activity to a well organized globally competitive industry. So with a hungry world demanding seafood and the technical ability to harvest it at will it is no wonder that each year more and more fishermen claim there is less and less to catch.
While technology is the major cause of the decline in fish stocks around the world that same technology is being used to manage marine resources and insure their long-term survival. In Belize laws have been enacted to establish closed seasons for various species so they may regenerate free from the pressure of human predators. Minimum sizes have also been set to prevent the taking of juveniles. Certain methods of fishing, such as the use of SCUBA gear or the placing of nets across river mouths, have been banned completely due to their potential ability to decimate the fish and seafood populations.
But the mere enactment of laws does not mean they will be obeyed. The sale of out of season or undersized product is common throughout Belize. It is most prevalent in the south where many foreign fishermen, often with local cooperation, routinely harvest during the off season and take their catch back to Honduras or Guatemala, thus robbing Belize not only of revenue, but of a prosperous future as well. Increased patrols by law-enforcement authorities would help stop this practice, but funds are scarce and the political will is not always evident. That’s why much of the responsibility for enforcement of fisheries laws has fallen upon the fishing community itself, particularly the cooperatives. Allan Burn, a fisherman for the last thirty years, is Chairman of the National Fishermen’s Co-op, based in Belize City.
Alan Burn, Chairman, National Fishermen’s Cooperative
“They realize there is a threat to the industry… from over fishing, from illegal fishing… all kinds of illegal fishing. And they realize that the government alone isn’t able to do all the policing, even in a small country like Belize, so the fishing industry has to be brought in to the policing.
I think it should be a coordinated effort between the government that is the Fisheries Department, and the fishermen themselves. I think with enough legal support the fishing industry can police itself.”
Tomorrow night we’ll take a look at specific steps being taken to maintain the health of Belize’s fishing industry.
