There may be more fish in the sea - but not much more conch.
Belize's over the past few years conch in Belize has been fished to a point where a decision has had to be taken to implement mechanisms to avoid the suspension of trade in the valuable marine resource.
Part of the mechanism put in place included a survey that took place in November of last year where the Fisheries Department did field research to determine the number of conch that are presently in Belizean waters.
Today through assistance from the Caribbean Regional fisheries Mechanism the data is being analyzed in order to determine if conch is being fished sustainably and whether the trade in the marine product will continue.
George Myvette, Senior Fisheries Officer
"Belize has international obligations in relation to the management of conch. There is a regime known as the convention for the trade of endangered specie and Belize is a signatory. So we need to demonstrate that we managing fisheries from a sustainable standpoint. In fact one of the issues that we need to examine is whether the regulation we have in place are adequate to manage the fish in a responsible way."
"What we have been asked to do is to analyze very carefully the fisheries, it's a bit premature to speculate on what the outcome would be, but I would say that if there is a need for us to strengthen the management systems in place it will come a consultation process. We all know these resources are finite and worldwide we are grappling with over harvesting but I hope this is not the case for Belize."
The CRFM today also presented a computer to the Fisheries Department to add capacity to the department's information system.