Effectiveness of Policy

11^th May 2013 

• ·      Breakfast
• ·      Restaurant check for illegal fish
• ·      Lunch
• ·      Check tourist boats for illegal tour activities
• ·      Dinner

Our day today consisted of learning of the policy side of the marine reserve. After a lovely breakfast, the groups split up into groups of three. Two of the groups went on boats to check and make sure tour boats were following the parks rules, and our group went and inspected a restaurant for illegal fish. The Fisheries Department of Belize every so often goes into the restaurants to check for fish (or lobster/ Queen Conch) out of season or illegal. An example of illegal fish is Tarpon.

Currently Queen Conch is in season, so restaurants and markets are allowed to sell them. Queen Conch’s closed season is from July 1^st to June 14^th. Currently, commercial fishermen have been over harvesting the Conch, so on Monday the ministries will issue a press release stating that on Tuesday or the following day, no one can possess or harvest Queen Conch meat. The result of overfishing was due to the season closing early last year in April.  Queen Conch is in category 2 of the Endangered Species Act so it is essential that some of the population remains for reproduction purposes.

A male Queen Conch

If illegal fish are found in the restaurants possession, they Fisheries Department will issue the person with a summons for the manager or owner to appear in court. The laws regarding illegal fish have not been updated since the 1960s. Therefore they do not greatly influence the fishermen and restaurants to be in compliance. The maximum fine for underweight, illegal, or out of season fish, conch, or lobster, is up to 500 Belizean dollars. Yes, in the in the 1960s that was a severe fine, but now it is just a slap on the wrist. Usually though the fines are between 20-100 Belizean dollars. The fisheries law needs to be revised to better influence the fish industries to follow the rules. Just like in America, Belize keeps their old laws and do not adapt them to the current issues and era. 

We went to lunch after the tour. Many people ate Jamaican jerk sandwiches, but I opted for an ice-cream cone instead, classic and delicious. Then our group did the boat tour, while the other groups performed the restaurant checks. Within the marine park, each boat can only have 8 people per tour guide. We checked the boats anchors to make sure none were damaging the reefs. Fidos, the marine park inspector, explained that each tour guide has to ensure that the tourists do not touch the marine life. All in all, every tour boat out there followed the rules. They want to protect the marine park for their economic benefit; without the coral reefs intact, many would be no longer in business. The other group went on the restaurant fish tour and even had the chance to try fresh Queen Conch! Nom!

trying the conch!

A windy day!