_{(l-r) Philip “Billy” Leslie, Fishing tour guide and Senator Janelle Chanona, OCEANA Belize executive director}

by William Ysaguirre (Freelance Writer)

BELIZE CITY, Mon. May 19, 2025

Belize’s coastal mangroves protect our coastlines from tropical storm destruction and wave erosion, and serve as a nursery for the juveniles of most commercial fish species, which the livelihoods of 6,000 tour guides and over 3,400 fishermen depend on, but land clearing for development has endangered this important storm barrier and natural habitat, prompting the Belize Flats Fishery Association (BFFA) to sound the alarm at a press conference at Spoonaz Cafe in Belize City on Monday morning, May 19.

The BFFA is not alone in this call to arms, as several conservationist non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil societies, including OCEANA Belize, have rallied to their cause, demanding that the Government of Belize (GoB) act swiftly to stop this ongoing destruction of these vital ecosystems. Despite the unforgettable harsh lessons of St. George’s Caye (sliced and diced into three islands by Hurricane Hattie’s storm waves in 1961) and Caye Caulker (cut in half by similar hurricane wave action caused by Hattie), modern developers, ignorant of these warnings, continue to put the aesthetics of a white beach over the protection of nature, with willy-nilly mangrove-clearing.

Many commercial fishermen, cognizant of the danger of overfishing, have transitioned away from harvesting fish from the sea, to become tour guides for sport fishermen, to preserve our fisheries and to earn a livelihood from our marine resources in a sustainable manner. Veteran fishing tour guide Phillip “Billy” Leslie has been an outspoken critic of proposed over-the-water structures on the Cayo Rosario development, an island that lies within the Hol Chan Marine Reserve, established in 2017. He invited Belize’s 3,400 commercial fishermen of Belize to rally to their cause, to join their mission to stop unplanned development, which will ultimately endanger the health of our prime tourist attraction, the Belize Meso-American Barrier Reef. Leslie and the BFFA are calling on the government to enact a law to protect the fishing flats, so that even where islands are under private ownership, the adjacent sea will be protected by law against encroaching development, which could have a destructive impact.

Belize has been a world leader in passing legislation to protect endangered species such as bonefish, permit and tarpon, which are popular with catch-and-release sport fishermen, but the destruction of their natural habitat – our coastal mangroves – is incongruous with our pioneering fisheries conservation laws. It simply makes no sense, as other fishing tour guides pointed out.

_{Eworth Garbutt, acting chairman BFFA}

Having the laws on the books without adequate enforcement is meaningless and nonsensical, Leslie declared, noting that the Forestry Department has indeed established an office in San Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye; but this token Forestry Officer is powerless to stop the tide of dredging, landfills and clearing of mangrove which is sweeping across the island and in all parts of the country. He said that everywhere he looks he sees unplanned developments happening without proper environmental clearance, without a proper environmental compliance plan, and this wholesale destruction of mangrove ecosystems needs to stop, or there will be the Devil to pay, he warned.

Senator Hon. Janelle Chanona of OCEANA Belize represents conservation organizations in the National Assembly, and she said there is ongoing review and revision of existing conservation laws to update the law to address new concerns, and that the local communities whose lives will be affected by proposed developments, should be consulted. She recommended that the government get the public’s input to ensure that the law and enforcement of the law will be adequate, and that the law be reformed to ensure that the Belizean people are represented by government oversight when private land sales take place.

_{Addiel Perez PhD, Marine scientist}

Belize has many management plans for its marine protected areas, which require that developers factor sustainability into their plan, marine scientist Addiel Perez PhD said. But to have sustainable tourism, to have sustainable commercial fisheries, the Belizean people need for the government to enforce the law, he emphasized. Mangrove destruction threatens the viability of Belize’s fishing industry, and destroying fish habitat will also endanger reef health, threatening the viability of the entire tourism industry, which has become the mainstay of the Belizean economy.