International Fisheries meeting seeks resource conservation
Traditionally, fish stories tend to be about the big one that got away … but the story being told today by scientists around the globe is that if we don’t take action soon, there won’t be any fish left to tell stories about. News Five’s Janelle Chanona reports from the Princess Hotel.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
This week, more than three hundred scientists, researchers, government officials and private sector representatives from North America, Central America and the Caribbean will gather in Belize City for the fifty-ninth meeting of the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute.
According to organizers, the idea behind the conference is to share experiences in the sustainable development of marine resources and ecosystems around the world to improve conditions in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
Beverly Wade, Fisheries Administrator
?What scientists try to bring across is what really is the status out there. And at the end of the day, if we don?t have the environment to support the use aspects of fisheries, at the end of the day there will be no area for use.?
The disturbing reality is that across the globe, over-fishing, man-made and organic pollution as well as warmer waters and an increase in Carbon Dioxide levels have wreaked havoc on Mother Nature?s delicate balancing act. The challenge for the future is to learn how to move from degradation to recovery. And while the experts agree that Belize boasts a healthy marine environment, the scientists say all that can change … and fast. The solution? Advanced policies of protection. Fisheries Administrator Beverly Wade says Belize has put lobster and conch at the top of the list.
Beverley Wade
?It?s a wake up call for us because we cannot continue to exploit without management. In Belize, we are looking at a quota system for lobster. We?ll be carrying out the surveys very soon, hopefully by next year, we?re hoping. And so we are going to look keenly at what?s being done in the region, regarding the spiny lobster, which is now being looked at as a species of concern. And if we as management are not proactive in putting our management plans together, then we would then be in an unfortunate position as a country that depends on lobster.?
In his presentation, ?Ecosystem Extinction in the Seas? Dr. Jeremy Jackson called on countries to go the way of Australia, which recently cordoned off one third of its Great Barrier Reef. Closer to home, projects on the south coast of Cuba and in Bahamas are also leading the way in preserving fish stocks and their habitats.
Dr. Jeremy Jackson, Keynote Speaker
?You have to be really serious about it. You have to be willing to set aside extremely large areas to have absolutely no violation of that protection and you have to do it for as long as it is necessary to get results. And the social pressures are always enormous to relax those constraints. There are parts of the Barrier Reef in Belize and in Cozumel that are pretty healthy. There are places where there has been real protection. But places where there hasn?t been protection are as bad as almost anywhere else in the Caribbean. So you can do it, but you have to have the political will and you have to have the will to do that on a really big scale.?
Jack Young, Fisherman
?Being a fisherman for over forty years, I have seen a lot of depletion in fish stocks. Especially our lobster and conch.?
A fisherman for most of his life, Jack Young says every year his catch is smaller.
Jack Young
?If I could do something about it, I would definitely either extend the closed season for the lobster or stop issue fisherman license for catching lobster and conch.?
Janelle Chanona
?You think there are too many fishermen out there??
Jack Young
?I believe so. Because I have seen lots of fisherman just join the group … just join the fishing fleet and you know it?s two fisherman to a lobster right now. Maybe even more and if we continue to issue fisherman license to fishermen, it would make the problem even worse.?
And while the number of local fishermen has grown every year, their counterparts from Honduras and Guatemala who illegally fish our national waters have also seriously depleted Belize?s marine resources. It?s an issue that will take political will, common sense and money.
Reporting for News Five, I am Janelle Chanona.
Hosted by the Government of Belize, the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute Conference is sponsored by a number of organisations including the World Bank, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Caribbean Fisheries Regional Mechanism. The conference ends on Saturday.
