When the Belize Territorial Volunteers led a mission to Sarstoon Island on August sixteenth, at least one vessel carrying members of the organization came into direct contact with the Guatemalan navy along the winding tributary. While footage of a brief verbal exchange was later broadcasted by the local media, leading the charge on the other […]
A smaller BTV contingent returned to Sarstoon Island this past Tuesday, where footage of what appeared to be a high-speed chase led by the Belize Defense Force was captured by the local media. On their tail was a Guatemalan vessel in hot pursuit. That video has raised numerous questions from the public as to whether […]
So, is the BTV squandering precious resources in trekking to the Sarstoon River weekly in an attempt to shadow the B.D.F. substitution at Cadenas? On Tuesday morning, Wil Maheia, along with Yaya Marin Coleman and COLA’s liaison officer Harley Burn, headed out early in hopes of witnessing the change-over. Despite a timely arrival, the mission […]
At the launch of a spirited anti-Guatemala campaign last Thursday, COLA’s executive member Rufus X, a contractor by profession, issued an open challenge to the B.D.F. to have him build a forward operating base at Sarstoon Island. X’s offer succeeds previous comments made by Commander Jones that not only is the island inhospitable but it […]
Another expedition to the Sarstoon by the Belize Territorial Volunteers took place early this morning. The group has committed to trek to the Sarstoon every Tuesday, which is the day when the Belize Defense Force carries out a patrol to Cadenas, an observation post along the bank of the Sarstoon River. But the B.D.F. was […]
Tonight the Punta Gorda Police Department is investigating an unusual and very disturbing allegation of rape. Over the weekend a student claims that she was beaten up by a group of females, then held down by one man and raped by another. There have been no arrests so far, but according to the Deputy Commander […]
Belmopan Police have made at least some progress in identifying skeletal remains found Sunday in the Salvador Area of Belmopan. A Guatemalan farmer, who went to cut sticks in a bushy area of Costa Rica Street extension, got a nasty surprise when he discovered the bones. So far an examination has revealed that the remains […]
The lower flat of a two-storey building was gutted by a fire early this morning in the Old Capital. The blaze started in the kitchen of the wooden house and before it could be contained, it swept through the entire floor. Tenant, Anita McKoy, left the kitchen briefly to attend to her daughter who was […]
Another wooden structure which was home to Glenford Adolphus, better known as Easy Glen, was gutted by fire on Friday night. Just before eleven o’clock that night, firefighters were called out to an area off Curl Thompson Street in the Jane Usher Boulevard area of Belize City. The elevated wooden structure was completely engulfed in […]
Illegal logging within the Chiquibul Forest remains one of the foremost causes of biodiversity loss within the national park. An assessment of the problem to determine its scale was commissioned by Friends for Conservation and Development and conducted over a two-year period, between 2010 and 2012. A recent report concludes that almost three million board […]
Sargassum, it is a regional environmental phenomenon that has been plaguing the entire Caribbean. In areas such as Cancun, the sargassum spreads four feet deep and about a hundred feet wide along the beach and in the Caribbean island of Saint Martin; beaches have been reportedly closed off to locals and tourists. In Belize, the […]
There are many challenges facing fisher folks, who depend on marine resources to earn a living. On Tuesday night, we featured part one of a series on the state of the fisheries industry. Tonight, in part two of the series, we look at the ways in which the Fisheries Department is assisting fishermen with an […]
Gillnetting is a common fishing method that is closely monitored and regulated by fisheries management and enforcement agencies. Unfortunately, the practice used by commercial fishermen is not adequately controlled, despite a call from OCEANA in Belize to ban the exploitative use of gillnets. The Sarstoon River is one such waterway that is littered with the […]
British Honduras was built on logwood and mahogany trade. That colonial history was based on exploitation of natural resources and people. Though we have achieved independence, Belizeans still depend on the natural resources as a food source as well as an avenue for economic activity. Along the coast of the Jewel, many villagers contribute to […]
The Caribbean Tourism Organization has issued an official release on a seasonal visitor which has overstayed its welcome in the region. Sargassum seaweed originates in the Sargasso Sea and because of the warmer waters of this region in which it thrives, it visits periodically. But the brown clumps of seaweed have apparently decided to hang […]
Farmers in the deepest South of the Orange Walk District are facing the grim reality of millions of dollars in losses. And it’s all because of an ongoing drought in that region of the country which is spelling the ruin of thousands of acres of corn and hundreds of acres of soybean. For one hundred […]
In a short while, the second in a series of Caribbean Climate Change exchanges will commence at the Ramada Belize City Princess and will be broadcast right here on Channel Five. The first was held less than a year ago in Barbados. The series is providing clarity on how climate change has affected the region […]
Media personnel were ferried out to a little known – at least to the city-centric journalists – protected area in Southern Belize called the Port Honduras Marine Reserve. The trip was organized by the Coalition to Save Our Natural Heritage, along with OCEANA and the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment which actually manages the […]
In June, two bills were presented to the House for a first reading – an amended PACT Bill and a brand new National Protected Areas System Bill. But while the N.G.O. community has been calling for these bits of legislation for years, what was introduced a couple weeks ago is not necessarily what they wanted. […]
This morning, the N.G.O. stakeholders asked the House sub-committee for more time, and they were granted that time, which means that there is room for much more consultation and input. That approval will likely not sit well with Minister Lisel Alamilla, who has been very aggressive and even contentious in pushing the bills. In fact, […]
Will Belize’s manatees get the help that they need? For a very long time we have reported on the cases of manatee injury and deaths. Over the past few years it has become a worrisome issue and this year alone it seems that we will break the record for most recorded manatee deaths. Local proponents […]
The fishing industry is said to contribute approximately three to five percent to Belize’s GDP and employs several thousand locals. At the heart of the industry stand the front line people – the fisher folks and it’s not every day that we hear they are being recognized, but today is one exception. The Wildlife Conservation […]
At the award ceremony this morning, a documentary was also launched, titled: Fishing: A Belizean Way of Life Now and Into the Future. Ralna Lewis, the lead on the project at Wildlife Conservation Society, tells us what the purpose of the documentary is. Ralna Lewis, Project Coordinator, WCS “It basically provides a comprehensive view […]
Exactly two weeks after a Guatemalan gunboat ran aground in Belizean waters near Glovers Reef, another maritime vessel has beached in shallow waters south of Blackadore Caye. This time, a Polaris Interceptor, one of forty-four boats in Mexico’s patrol fleet, is stranded on the mud flats and shoals near the island. Sometime in the wee […]
Today Minister of Fisheries, Forests and Sustainable Development Lisel Alamilla was in the House of Representatives, surrounded by invited representatives of various conservation N.G.O.s. They were there for the passage of two bills – the new National Protected Areas System Act Bill and the amended PACT Bill. Both have drawn some measure of concern from […]
