GC Mission to Belize Marine Reserves for Enforcement Assessment and Training
Global Park Defense for Marine Protection
Global Conservation has been working for three years in Turneffe Atoll, which is managed by the Turneffe Atoll Sustainability Association (TASA), to deploy Global Park Defense for Marine Protection, including Marine Radar surveillance, SMART Patrolling, patrol operations including vessel maintenance, fuel and rations for patrols, as well as personnel development.
Turneffe is the largest atoll in the Mesoamerican Reef and the largest marine reserve in Belize. This area represents one of the most important and pristine marine ecosystems in the Caribbean, serving as a model for other coastal and island MPAs. The Mesoamerican Reef is the second largest reef in the world after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
Turneffe Atoll and Lighthouse Reef are home to over 500 fish species, 65 coral species, sea turtles, manatees, dolphins, seabirds, and other marine wildlife and are considered a globally significant biodiversity hotspot.
Within the conservation zone of the MPA, commercial fishing is not allowed. No-take recreational activities, such as snorkeling, scuba diving, and kayaking, are permitted within this zone. Sport fishing is allowed, but only with a valid license and only as catch and release.
GC supports the attachment of the Belize Coast Guard to TASA enforcement operations for armed support to deal with the dangerous situation of aggressive illegal fishers as well as narcotics traffickers. Hundreds of tons of cocaine move northward through Belize each year, resulting in people being murdered in the atolls and piracy. By providing critical support to the Coast Guard to help Turneffe Atoll in marine enforcement, we are improving the effectiveness and safety of marine enforcement officers.
This year, the government of Belize launched its Coast Guard Drone Squadron, with drones equipped with infrared stabilized cameras capable of delivering thermal observations to facilitate nighttime missions. The use of drones for surveillance or narcotics interdiction operations reduces the direct exposure of personnel in potentially dangerous situations, such as confrontations with criminal organizations or adverse maritime conditions.
Improving Effectiveness of Enforcement
Global Conservation led a mission to Belize to improve the effectiveness of enforcement and scientific adaptive management of Turneffe Atoll, the country’s largest Marine Protection Area (MPA), deploying Global Park Defense for Marine Protection.
Turneffe Atoll and its neighbor—Lighthouse Reef—are facing overfishing pressures and illegal activities around cocaine trafficking and have limited government resources for enforcement personnel and patrol operations.
Meeting with marine enforcement teams and government officials, including the Prime Minister’s office, the Coast Guard, and the Fisheries Department of Belize, Global Conservation has supported the deployment of Global Park Defense for Marine Protection over the past three years.
GC interventions to improve marine protection include the deployment of SMART Patrolling systems, Marine Radars for 24/7 surveillance, new facilities for marine wardens and Coast Guard, command centers, and patrolling operations support.
Turneffe Atoll plans to solve a number of problems, including overpermitting, pressure from spearfishing, lack of government funding, donor fatigue, and an overall lack of enforcement.
GC Executive Director Jeff Morgan and Michael Stefanik work with TASA to teach them how to use SMART technology to effectively patrol their waters.
Sharing Experience from California Fish and Wildlife
With over 60 years of experience between these senior marine enforcement leaders on the front lines of marine protection, David Bess and Michael Stefanik trained the protection teams of Turneffe Atoll on the water and in the classroom and assessed enforcement effectiveness and the quality of their marine protection work, suggesting a number of ways to improve operations.
Dr. Rachael Graham (right) founded and runs MarAlliance, which, “…explores, enables, and inspires conservation action for threatened marine wildlife and their critical habitats, working with dependent human communities.”
Effective Marine Protection and Sustainable Management
In addition to marine enforcement, GC is supporting scientific baselines for key species in both Turneffe Atoll and Lighthouse Atoll by MarAlliance under Dr. Rachael Graham for sharks, rays, and turtles, as well as TASA’s own fisheries monitoring team for conch and groupers, to make better decisions on establishing and expanding ‘No Take’ zones to enable recovery of fish species. Based on scientific data, better decision-making is possible under an adaptive management approach.
Recent government and scientific publications on fishing sustainability in Belize suggest that commercial and recreational fishing of most species is currently unsustainable—either being overfished or already depleted. The further depletion of Belize’s fisheries could have far-reaching and potentially irreversible impacts on the local economy, fishers’ livelihoods, the ecology of the Mesoamerican Reef, as well as Belize’s reputation as a global leader in marine conservation.
Approximately 13,000 people in Belize directly benefit economically from the fishing industry; conch and lobster are important sources of export revenue. Over 3,000 licenses are issued each year for commercial fishing in nine areas. Belizeans rely on finfish like groupers and snappers as a critical local food source, and Belize’s tourism economy and the tourism industry contribute 46% of the country's GDP and are the largest employment sector in Belize.
Our Next Steps
Global Conservation has offered technical support and an overseas mission for key actors in marine enforcement to learn from the California Fish and Wildlife Services experience of establishing a network of 128 MPAs in 2012.
We will continue to support Turneffe Atoll Marine Protection and assist the Government of Belize to establish a unified and dedicated Marine Enforcement Authority for all of Belize with regular annual funding from The Belize Fund for staff, vessels, operations, and training, complemented by community and management partners in the coming years.
The Marine Enforcement Authority will be its own dedicated Agency with funding and personnel to succeed in country-wide marine enforcement.
For more information on GC Marine Protection work in 12 countries, see our Marine Protection Handbook.
About Global Conservation: Global Conservation is the only international NGO focused exclusively on the protection of endangered national parks and indigenous territories in developing countries. In its tenth year, Global Conservation has over thirty (30) GC Projects in twenty-two (22) countries providing hundreds of grants each year directly to protecting endangered national parks and indigenous territories—focused on ‘The Last 10%’ of the Earth’s intact forests and wildlife habitats, critical to achieving the UN Goal of ‘30x30.’
