Ministry of Blue Economy Expresses Grave Concern over B.F.F Release

In its initial press release, the B.F.F. had suggested that the fisheries industry was in crisis, a comment to which the Ministry of the Blue Economy has expressed concern. In that release, the B.F.F stated that a month prior to that, it had partnered with the SUMMIT Foundation of the United States to conduct a series of workshops across Belize’s coast. This was done to report on scientific findings of the fisheries industry, and the B.F.F said that fisherfolk found that conch stocks were heavily fished and showed significant signs of depletion. Coupled with that, it reported that the vast majority of the conchs harvested were undersized and did not have a chance to reproduce before they were extracted. It also found that this practice has been going on for a while and that it posed a major red flag for the industry. The release also went on to list a variety of undersized species of fish that were also being extracted from the sea. And today, the Ministry of Blue Economy and the Fisheries Department say they have grave concerns over that release, calling it irresponsible and baseless. The ministry’s release says that it is aware of the work that the Summit Foundation has been doing and that it has formally written to its director, expressing major concerns on the draft report. The ministry says that the B.F.F. has not been able to prove to the government that they represent the majority of Belizean fishers, to claim by their slogan that they are ‘A Voice for Belizean Commercial Fishers’. The ministry informed News Five today that they were in meetings on this matter, as well as on the Rainforest Seafood Limited issue, and that it will soon be meeting with the press on both matters.