“Progress brings problems.” – George Cadle Price, Father of the Nation

Monday, September 23, 2024

We have just finished celebrating our beautiful country and wonderful people, and given thanks in a National Day of Prayer for this blessed land with wealth untold that God’s goodness gave to us all, the Belizean people. But sometimes, while our leaders give lip service to preserving our legacy for future generations of Belizeans, it is not always certain if they fully grasp the level of responsibility that they carry in the decisions they make in their quest to make life better for all Belizeans. In their drive to “grow the economy” and invite “foreign direct investment” as the holy grail, there are certain areas where by law they are guided by the advice and scientific opinions of our trained professionals; and there will sometimes be a temptation on the part of our political leaders to bypass such advice and opinions when it seems to be standing in the way of “progress” and “economic growth”. However, regardless of the argument about the actual happenings on the Tenth of September in 1798, what is indisputable is the fact that this “noble spot”, created over millions of years, was chosen because of certain attributes that made it a natural haven for pirates/buccaneers. The intricate contours of our treacherous reef system and accompanying channels served well as their hideout, then it became a settlement, then colony, and then the nation of Belize. And through the centuries of storms and hurricanes, the many mangrove islands and cayes have stood the test of time.

Nature is bringing more pressure on our mangrove cayes and coastlines with global warming and rising sea levels, as we have witnessed here in Belize City these past couple weeks, and it will test the resilience of our breakwater mangrove coastlines in the months and years to come.

When venturing in uncharted waters, a good captain will proceed slowly, and give instructions for repeated depth testing as the craft moves along. There are skeletons of many sunken ships along the reefs bordering Belize, the relics from unfamiliar captains who were led to their doom by our wary sea dog forebears in small ships that carried on their pirate trade in these waters before the legitimate business of logwood-cutting, and later mahogany and chicle, provided them a less risky and more profitable means of earning income.

For the sake of greater profits, mostly for the few, our leaders are currently contemplating giving the green light to dredging works to alter the depth and contours of the major inlet channels that traditional merchant and recent cruise tourism ships have followed, beginning at English Caye and on through Grennel’s channel to anchorage in the Belize City harbor. Some say it should have little effect on the “environment” and will be a great boon to our economy because of the much larger ships that can then come all the way to Stake Bank and to the Port of Belize. But neither the fearful skeptics, the professionals at the NEAC, or the ambitious business magnates know for sure what the impact will be upon our cayes and coastline. Some are convinced it would be very minor, and the great profits from “economies of scale” with the monster ships might be shared with the Belizean masses; but it could also prove to have a major negative impact in ways we could not have imagined. It’s a gamble many Belizeans might wish to make; but they should all know what the game is before it becomes “a done deal”.

The untold story of the Triangles’ Long Caye is one that very few Belizeans are aware of. That’s because, if you Google Spanish Caye there will be a lot of information about Spanish Lookout Caye, which is completely different; and likewise, The Triangles will take you many places, but not to The Triangles of current concern. About twelve miles southeast of Belize City, there is on one side Robinson Point and Grennels Caye; about a mile east of these is Spanish Caye, and then beginning a half-mile south of Spanish Caye, there were what is called The Triangles, about 8 relatively small mangrove islands, the southernmost of which, Holmes Caye, was once inhabited. The northernmost of the Triangles was one that was called Long Caye, for obvious reasons; it was the longest of the group. If you didn’t get a chance to visit the Triangles’ Long Caye (we’ll call it “T-Long Caye”), you won’t, because T-Long Caye is no more. It would do our environmental experts at NEAC well to investigate the demise of T-Long Caye. The lesson to be learned is simple: when you tamper with Mother Nature in a big way … well, you never know. (T-Long Caye is not to be mistaken with the others along the Barrier Reef chain, namely the Northern, Middle, and Southern Long Cayes.)

For generations, T-Long Caye was about two hundred and fifty yards in length (small compared to the 3 others mentioned above). There was a little channel about fifty feet at its narrowest that passed around the northern tip of Long Caye with a “dry” shoal to the east, and led into a deep lagoon bordered by T-Long Caye to the west, two smaller cayes to the south and a long “dry shoal” to the east. Further south were five more cayes, the two largest of these being Holmes Cay and Maali Caye.

To mark that access channel, when approaching in his sailboat, fisherman Ronny Cabral, who was based at the time on Holmes Caye, planted a mangrove pole with a styrofoam buoy stuck on top for easy visibility in order to safely navigate through that narrow channel at the northern tip of T-Long Caye. This marker remained useful for all who traversed the area in sail or motor craft, especially in fading light when the channel was not clearly distinguished from the shallows.

Sometime around 1979-80, a group of fishermen decided to set up their camp on the northern end of T-Long Caye, which at the time was a narrow mangrove strip about forty feet across. To avoid mosquitoes, they cut down all the mangroves to the ground, which was barely above sea level. After about a year, they abandoned the camp and went elsewhere, first to Grennels Caye, then to the northernmost tip of Robinson Point, and eventually they completely vacated the area.

Because the T-Long Caye point was narrow, no longer densely covered with mangroves, as all the vegetation had been cut down to the ground, it apparently did not rebound in new growth fast enough to withstand the ravages of periodic storms, a couple hurricanes, and perhaps the added pressure of rising sea levels due to global warming. Not only did the mangroves not return to T-Long Caye point, but over the years the whole of T-Long Caye was eventually lost. Erosion started at the north point, where the deep-channel waves soon covered what used to be the camp grounds. And the water pushed farther and farther south with each succeeding storm or hurricane. Today, there is a long “dry” shoal that used to be called Long Caye. What is interesting is that all the other cayes in the Triangles, including Spanish Caye, Robinson Point and Grennels Caye, remain in existence. Only T-Long Caye is gone.

Nature has its way, and our human plans sometimes may not be fully in sync with the rules of nature.

With all the talk about widening and deepening the channels coming into Belize harbor to accommodate the monster tourist and cargo ships, there has been concern about possible pollution from the dredged silt, but has any thought been given to the possible increased erosion or tidal wave impacts upon Robinson Point and the Yarborough coast of Belize City in times of tropical storms and hurricanes? In the quest for rapid economic progress, consultation slows things down, and has not been a strong point of the current administration. But there are some decisions whose impacts are irreversible. Unlike a bill that doesn’t achieve the results expected, and may be brought back to the House for amendment, when the God-given contours and depths of our navigable channels have been altered, there is no turning back. We have been warned by national hero Philip Goldson: “The time to save your country, is before you lose it.”