Photo: (l-r) Adult and juvenile queen conch (Strombus Gigas)

Representatives of the Belize Federation of Fishers outlined that key policy changes, including a change of the open access fishing license regime and increased enforcement to address illegal fishing by our Honduran and Guatemalan neighbors, are urgently needed.

by Marco Lopez

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. July 13, 2023

The Belize fisheries industry is in crisis. This is according to the findings of a series of workshops conducted by the Belize Federation of Fishers (BFF) in conjunction with scientists from the Summit Foundation and local fisherfolk from three jurisdictions in Belize. The workshops were held with members of fishing communities from Dangriga, Belize City and Corozal. The finding of scientific data from the past 50 years conducted by the 8 to 9 senior scientists coincides with the experiences shared by the fisherfolk on the ground, Nigel Martinez, Director of the Belize Federation of Fishers (BFF) told us today in an interview.

“The second part of the workshop was basically to get feedback from the fishers themselves about what was presented to them, to hear their perspective on the status of the fisheries, and to see if it contradicts, if it differs from what the scientists were basically saying. In the final narrative, it was alarming to us that what they were presenting to us is what the guys actually were experiencing out at sea. Which is a series of decline in the different species,” Martinez said.

A press release was issued by the Federation yesterday to register its concern with the reports of the purported discovery of illegal and undersized conch in the possession of Rainforest Seafood LTD. They shared that this report is reflective of the crisis unfolding in the conch and wider Belize fisheries industry. Juvenile commercial fish are not getting the chance to reach the age of maturity, and are being harvested before they have the time to reproduce. This has been evident in the conch stock, Chairman of the BFF, Dale Fairweather said. Mr. Fairweather has over 40 years’ experience in the industry, and he believes that today the conch stock is in the worst predicament.

He explains why.

“In my time, I see a lot of depletion. But from the workshop and from the fishers that attended this workshop, we all have the perspective that the conch industry is in the worst trouble in Belize right now. That’s a major, major red flag, because we have been saying for years that the conch is depleting, depleting. Now, it’s really, really in a bad shape – the conch is in the worst place right now,” Fairweather said.

He added, “The thing is, the way we harvest conch in Belize for all my life as a fisherman, we harvest by weight. And weight does not signify maturity…the law is you can harvest a conch if it is 3 ounces, but the majority of the conch that you harvest at three ounces are juvenile; they are not mature conch that reproduce.”

The accused company claims that they harvested the conch at regulation size but they shrunk in the process of being frozen. George Myvett, Technical Advisor of the Belize Federation of Fishers contends, however, that some illegal or out-of-season conch extraction is likely to have taken place.

“Very, very recently, there has been a major ‘buss’ of one of the major exports – Rainforest – purportedly. This has not played out conclusively; there’re still some unanswered questions. We don’t know that, that concern has been charged. Point being, that kind of Rainforest event is an indicator that two things could have happened – you don’t end up with illegal product if there was no illegal fishing taking place. And so, there would have been a substantial amount of illegal fishing taking place to full a container of conch – one. Two – there could have been also fishing inside the closed season, the season for conch this year, the 14 May, we don’t know. The Ministry of the Blue Economy and Fisheries need to come forward,” Myvett said.

The workshop participants from academia and the fishing communities both agreed that significant signs of depletion are affecting commercial specie stocks. According to the BFF, a major problem is the regulations in place which allow for open access for anyone to get a fishing license. The federation shared that the lack of an apprenticeship program is resulting with the younger fisherfolk entering the industry with little consideration for best practices as it relates to sustainability.

Senior fisherman and Chairman of the BFF, Dale Fairweather explains, “Really, what is happening in Belize, is that the older fishermen, most practice sustainable fishing. All these young guys that are just coming into the fishery without any kind of training or anything, those are the guys that are taking everything, because when you have to spend $1,000 to go out at sea, you have to make $1,001 to make a dollar.”

The technical advisor, Myvett shared that regulations requiring licensed fisherfolk to report on catch quantity, location, and other important data are not being provided, and the relevant department has failed to implement the submission of this data, a requirement for license renewal.

Director of the BFF, Martinez said that the fisherfolk on the ground have a clear grasp of what needs to be done to salvage the industry, but recognized that significant policy changes are needed from the government side.

“There is little to no enforcement. There should be enforcement at the cooperative or at these receiving stations when the fishers are bringing in their product. Now we are seeing that the co-ops are policing themselves. The receiving organizations are policing themselves. That is unsustainable,” Martinez declared.

The BFF is calling on the Ministry of the Blue Economy, the Fisheries Department and all the Blue Bond interests to call a Summit on the State of Fisheries in Belize and invite members of the fishing communities to participate meaningfully. They hope that the voice of those on the ground can be heard – so that the regulations recommended consider the social component of the wider issues surrounding fisheries.

For example, the federation believes that the Blue Bond agreement, which seeks to protect 30% of Belize’s marine space within the short term – makes little to no consideration to address the social component of these decisions – the fisherfolk who depend on the blue economy for their livelihood.

The BFF was recently denied a grant which sought to empower 30 fisherfolks with the capacity to conduct deep sea fishing. Their studies have shown that boats have to go further in the deep to make any income, but most fisherfolk lack the equipment to get to and withstand our deep waters. The grant requested by the BFF was submitted to the Belize Fund for Sustainable Future. That organization is an NGO established to provide funding and support to organizations with projects that align with the Blue Bond Agreement.

A $150,000 grant for the BFF would have empowered 30 fisherfolk with increased capacity to earn income. It was denied despite the organization’s offer of $20,000 in kind toward the project objective.

Martinez outlined that one of the important policy changes needed is for fisherfolk to get meaningful representation. “As it relates to the development of this industry, in particular the Blue Bond arrangement, between the GoB and TNC, they want to play a factor. At this juncture we are not playing a significant role at all. They also want to make sure that they have true representation at the Belize Fisheries Council, as well as at the Belize Fund for Sustainable Future,” Martinez pointed out.

Myvett outlined that one of the major impacts on our commercial fishing stock remained illegal fishing which takes place at night in the southernmost part of our marine space. He shared that fisherfolk from Guatemala and Honduras often enter Belizean waters in the dark of night in “fleets” and extract millions of dollars in marine produce each year. He believes the opportunity cost to address this situation is tremendous.

“You are looking at a situation where, if you are not addressing it, then you’re basically continuing to have a loss going forward that could have been an asset. So, if these guys, for example, are taking out 10 million dollars’ worth of product annually, and the Government of Belize needs to spend $500,000 to arrest that situation, then you can obviously see the trade off,” Martinez pointed out.

Issues of corruption, a lack of Spanish speaking enforcement officers to cater to persons mainly from the northern districts, and the overabundance of fishers licensed in Belize, are some of the key matters the BFF believes need to be addressed. As mentioned, inclusion of the fisherfolk in decision making, and creating a suitable apprenticeship program to prepare new fishers to enter the industry are also important.

The BFF is calling heads of government and conservation groups to convene an industry forum with fisherfolk to address these immediate issues.

“Change in human behavior is affected by information – the Belize Federation of Fishers believe that disaster can be avoided if policy decisions by fisheries authorities in government are driven by good information. So, these workshops that were held across coastal Belize hopefully will affect change for our fishers nationally and indeed for our fishing industry,” Director of BFF, Nigel Martinez said.

We reached out to the Ministry of Blue Economy but they directed us to the Fisheries Department, who informed us that both key persons that could comment on the matter were unavailable. Our request for comment from the Belize Fund for a Sustainable Future was also unanswered.