Eworth Garbutt says the Government has done the right thing.
STANN CREEK, Mon. Sept. 2, 2024
In August, copies of a Gazette publication dated August 24, 2024 included an item on Angelfish Caye, which fly fishers know as Will Bauer Flats, stating that the Government was acquiring the two parcels of land totalling 2.27 acres for a project site located within the Spruce Caye area of South Water Caye Marine Reserve. The location, some 10 and ½ miles from Hopkins, is key for the fly fishers’ livelihoods, and they all felt their world was about to come crashing down earlier this year when they started noticing development around Angelfish Caye. Dredging was about to get underway as markers had been placed around the island. They said that unbeknownst to them, an eco-resort project had been given environmental clearance by the National Environmental Appraisal Committee (NEAC). Several consultations had allegedly been done (officials said three), but the fly fishers had been unaware of it all, perhaps because they knew the area by a different name.
It was a small project comprising six buildings, a couple other structures and a sewage and solar plant system. Just over one acre of land would be reclaimed, leading to small portions of the sea grass bed being eliminated. But the fly fishers affirmed that the slightest change in the landscape would be detrimental, and fought it tooth and nail. The now nationally famous Eworth Garbutt, president of the Belize Flats Fishery Association (BFFA), was even charged with damage to property in connection with activism in February this year to stop the project. The accusation is that he damaged a geo-textile curtain that was placed in the location by the developer, with the value of that curtain being cited as $1,200. In May this year, he pleaded not guilty and was offered bail of $2,000.
Fast forward three months, and now Garbutt is happy, saying that the Government has done the right thing. In an interview in August, he had told Amandala, “We’ll keep the fire burning ‘til the sweet ending, noh, because we won’t have a bitter one.” At the time though, he described Government’s response, or lack thereof, as mere lip service. Quarry works had been paused, but there was no other update on the overall future of the project. Nonetheless, Garbutt was confident that the project would be permanently halted. He lamented that, apart from doing the right thing, the Government also needed to get the timing right. He remarked, “The time was yesterday, but we still will tolerate today. And it need[s] to be done and need[s] to be done now! The people of this nation and the future generation deserve it. Not just for [the] conservation aspect of tourism, but for the whole cultural heritage of Belize.” Describing the area, he noted, “It’s a flat where bonefish thrive, where all the ecosystem[s] thrive; everything there is so vibrant and alive.”
Now that the Ministry of Natural Resources, Petroleum and Mining has invoked the Land Acquisition (Public Purpose) Act, Chapter 184 of the Substantive Laws of Belize, Revised Edition 2020, the land owners, Angelfish Caye LLC incorporated in Texas, have been invited to submit their written claims for compensation. The public purpose cited is the preservation of a marine environment, as the lands now fall under the Blue Bond marine boundaries being outlined.
The background to the land acquisition in this case is also noteworthy. The Government, in May of 2020 commissioned a survey for lands within the South Water Caye Marine Reserve, and subsequently sold off blocks of land in two parcels to Alexandria Castillo and Allen Garbutt, respectively.
Today, Garbutt thanked all community members from Dangriga, Hopkins, Placencia, Monkey River, Independence, Punta Negra, Punta Gorda and others who came together in this fight.