The southern tip of San Pedro Ambergris Caye is the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. Hol Chan, which is Mayan translation for “Little Channel,” was officially established as a protected area in 1987. The reserve covered only eighteen square kilometers of the rich aquatic ecosystem, but since then, it has expanded to cover over fifty-five square […]
Shark Ray Alley, Cangrejo Caye, Bacalar Chico and the Hol Chan Marine Reserve have been designated as protected areas on Ambergris Caye. This past Tuesday, cabinet finally moved to approve the expansion of the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. For years the management of the reserve has proposed the expansion which would include a forty acre […]
The drowning of a rarely seen Scalloped Hammerhead Shark in Southern Belize has brought into sharp focus the use of gillnets at sea. For years, fishermen have been calling for a ban and a few years ago, OCEANA joined in the call, but there was no progress. Gillnets are classified as legal fishing gears in […]
Earlier this week we reported that a steel hull vessel remains aground on the reef near the island of Caye Caulker. A French captain reportedly crashed into the reef near some coral rubble when he missed the channel near Caye Caulker. That was on December thirty-first 2014 and since then; several attempts have been made […]
The Westerhaven, the Great Escape and the Azteca are three well-known vessels that ran aground on Belize’s barrier reef in the past six years. In the case of the Westernhaven, which beached on the reef about fifteen miles north east of Dangriga back in 2009, eleven million fifty thousand dollars was awarded to the government […]
For over a month now, a boat, a steel hull vessel, has been aground on the reef near the island of Caye Caulker. Word spread like wildfire in early January about the incident, but weeks later, no one has been fingered for the accident at sea. OCEANA in Belize for years now has been working […]
Belize has the second largest barrier reef in the world and is considered part of a world heritage site. The steel hull sailboat measures at approximately thirty-five feet in length and sits in approximately five feet of water in low tide. While the sailboat is currently lodged on coral “rubble”, increased wave action could push […]
The Friends for Conservation and Development, better known as FCD, has been working tirelessly to stop a number of illegal activities inside the Chiquibul. For the FCD, illegal logging remains one of the top issues to tackle. For the past three years, the organization has had an agreement with Asociacion Balam, a Guatemalan organization that […]
Can you name one thing you see along Belize’s highways that you’ll never see on any road in, say, neighbouring Chetumal? Give up? Well, we’ll tell you. It’s garbage. A lot of garbage…miles and miles of garbage thrown there from buses, cars, bicycles and even people walking by. It’s an eyesore, an embarrassment, and one […]
Since Monday, a team of experts from the UNESCO World Heritage Center has been in Belize on a technical mission. For five years, since June 2009, the Belize Barrier Reef Marine System has been under the threat of delisting as a World Heritage Site. So the team has been here to assist the government of […]
But has the government put in place measures to maintain the integrity of the ecosystem? According to Doctor Fanny Douvere, there has been some improvement, but there are three to five issues that need to be addressed over the course of the coming years. If the necessary policies are put in place in a socioeconomic, […]
It’s been some time since we’ve received an update on movements, local and illegal, within the Chiquibul. Late last year we talked about nothing but that after Special Constable Danny Conorquie was gunned down by Guatemalans at the Caracol Archaeological Site. His death galvanized stakeholders, and tonight we are happy to report that the positive […]
Like we said, Manzanero is a tireless advocate, and one of his passions is the protection of scarlet macaws, the majestic birds whose population in Belize remains at risk. In fact, next week Manzanero is heading off to Taiwan to solicit assistance for the plight of the macaws. Rafael Manzanero, Executive Director, FCD “The […]
There is increased environmental chatter recently after the Geology and Petroleum Department released its draft petroleum exploration policy. According to the wording on that draft, every part of the Belizean territory, onshore and offshore, is open for oil exploration. It’s caused great consternation among those N.G.O.s who have consistently said no to offshore drilling, and […]
Earlier this week, we told you about OCEANA’s feedback on the Department of Geology’s Zoning Draft Policy. OCEANA said they were not meaningfully engaged, having only received the draft on Monday. The Ministry of Energy refuted OCEANA’s statements, saying that OCEANA is wrong because the engagement process started last year and feedback from the N.G.O. […]
The Belize Barrier Reef was placed on an endangered list by UNESCO since 2009 and it remains on that list tonight. But we can report that a delegation from UNESCO’s World Heritage Center is in country to review the state of the Barrier Reef. The reef reserve system was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site […]
Over the past five years, there has been continuous degradation of the reef. Concessions have been granted for offshore oil exploration and mega tourism developments within the reef system are raising concern for environmental groups. According to the Communications Officer of OCEANA, Alyssa Carnegie, the visit by UNESCO will start the dialogue between the environmental […]
The Geology and Petroleum Department has circulated a document entitled Petroleum Exploration Zones and Exploration Guidelines. The department claims that it “recognized the need for a framework aimed at harmonizing petroleum exploration and environmental protection and tourism development in the onshore and offshore areas of Belize and the barrier reef system.” It’s only a draft, […]
Remember the Puerto Azul Project…a proposed mega-tourism development within the Lighthouse Reef Atoll at Sandbore and Northern Cayes? It has been out of the headlines for quite some time, but the proposed billion dollar exclusive, high-end resort by Italian investors is very much still alive. While the project received an initial green light by the […]
Two weeks ago, on January eighth, 2015, the Department of Environment and its partner agencies embarked on a new communication strategy with a workshop held for media representatives at the Baboon Sanctuary in Bermudian Landing. Well today, a follow up workshop was held at the Radisson in Belize City. The goal is to bring together […]
It was confirmed today that the Avian Influenza Type A has been detected in two poultry farms in the Spanish Lookout area, Cayo District. BAHA says the outbreak is limited and that measures have been put in place to prevent the poultry and poultry products from leaving the farms. BAHA is also mentoring other farms. […]
Turning to other issues, a cargo vessel en route to Belize has been grounded off the coast of the city since the beginning of the week when it began experiencing mechanical difficulties near the English Caye Pilot Station. Rio Para, a ship which flies the flag of Antigua and Barbuda, was on its way from […]
In his New Year’s address Prime Minister Dean Barrow made all manner of promises, government spending which he claims will rival and even surpass the unprecedented spending in 2014. There was much of interest in that address, but one thing stood out, at least for tourism stakeholders and organizations like COLA who have been advocating […]
It is now abundantly clear that the protection of our environment is key to our continued existence. In fact sixty percent of the country has been designated as protected areas. The Department of the Environment this morning organized a workshop in a protected area to emphasize to importance of implementing good practices to safeguard the […]
The workshop concluded with a tour by the Community Baboon Sanctuary in the area. The sanctuary, which spans the length and width of seven villages in the River Valley area, was instituted back in February 1985 by residents of the community as a voluntary private protected area. Two hundred and forty landowners in the villages […]
