Today we accompanied Ali, an employee of the Belize Department of Fisheries, on a restaurant inspection. Queen Conch is still in season here, but it is rumored to be closing on Monday. Come Tuesday, it will be illegal for any restaurants to have Queen Conchs in their possession. Today we were looking for spiny lobsters because they are out of season until mid-June. We only went to one restaurant, and it seemed like they knew we were going to show up. The restaurant had no lobster, but it did have an illegal Tarpon fish. We didn’t record the fish in the inspection log, but Ali talked to the owner in private. Later on Ali explained that often restaurant owners are tricked into buying an illegal fish because they don’t know the difference. That seemed a little odd to me since the fish was whole, but the inspecting officer has the authority to use their discretion when deciding whether or not to summon restaurant owners and managers to court for small offenses. It must very difficult to regulate restaurant owners in a small town where everyone knows your name. It was interesting to see how the inspection process goes though. I would have liked to visit more than one restaurant though. Tomorrow we have the day off until 7 pm. I’m excited to go swimming!
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| A Queen Conch underwater |
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