And while those officers were in distress, so are conservation minded Belizeans after learning that the expansion project for the Port of Belize is has come back to the forefront.
The Ashcroft Alliance's Waterloo Investment Holdings Limited is planning to expand the lands owned by the port to create a new cargo area and bulk cargo facilities as well as include new cruise terminal facilities.
The cruise terminal includes two new piers that will allow for the shoreside berthing of four Oasis class cruise ships. Several other features and facilities will be added to entice more tourists to come off the cruise ships.
And that's the goal, according to the consultants for the project - more tourism means more revenue for the country. During last night's public consultation for the project, they tried to sell this to the general public, but received plenty of pushback from citizens concerned about the environmental impacts that the project will cause. Courtney Menzies has a recap of the consultation.
Environmentally conscious Belizeans have lodged their complaints about Waterloo's expansion project for the Port of Belize at last night's virtual public consultation hosted by the DOE. The four hour long consultation kicked off with a presentation from Waterloo consultant, Dr Dionne Chamberlain-Miranda and Allan Herrera, the principal consultant.
Dr Chamberlain started off by debunking misconceptions about the project, including the much supposed 10 million cubic meters of unsuitable material that will be dredged and then dumped into the sea, near the barrier reef. According to Chamberlain, that figure is inaccurate.
Dr Dionne Chamberlain-Miranda, Managing Director, Chamberlain Consulting
"The very first thing that I would like to state also is that the actually dredging volume is less than 7.5 million cubic meters and not the 10 million cubic meters that has been sent out in the media. It is - and actually less than 5 million will be placed offshore so it's not the gravity of the 10 that was mentioned in the media as well."
Whether it's 10 million or 5 million, environmental NGO's such as Oceana and Fragments of Hope, and the wider public, have expressed concern about the dredging. This dredging is to deepen the 7.5 meter long access channel to make it 12 meters deep and 190 meters wide, and also to allow the turning basin to be 550 meters wide. Herrera explained why this is necessary.
Allan Herrera, Principal Consultant
"It is important that the good facilities are there so that the ships that come into the port to trade and to take out our products abroad that we don't have to restrict certain ships and we don't have to exclude any ships. and so it is important that the port is deepened to that these larger vessels can come in."
But what the consultants are also claiming is that no major damage will actually be done to the reef. In fact, Luis Prieto of Piedroba Consulting Group, said that the material that will be dredged can be used in alternative ways.
Luis Prieto, Partner, Piedroba Consulting Group
"All the material that's being pumped into the EPZ area which is the out land area near the EWLS Lagoons just south of the Port Loyola area, all of that material will only be used for beneficial use in the port facility itself or it will be made available to the general public for their own beneficial use."
In addition they are also claiming that there will be no harm to marine life nor will there be an impact on the livelihoods of fishermen.
Allan Herrera, Principal Consultant
"Within the area that is to be dredged it's not, it's by no stretch of the imagination rich habitat for marine species. We mentioned the high turbidity levels in that area so the habitats are very sparse, they're very poor, and it's not an area that is known to any Belizean as an important fishery area. It might be a migratory route."
But the public is not inclined to believe them. One of the various zoom calls during the consultation was from a frustrated resident, who said that the consultants were essentially lying to the public.
Voice of: Concerned Resident
"You guys are trying to insult our intelligence, really and truly, talking about there's no potential impact at all to the reef from the proposed dumping activity. That is totally absurd but I just wanna contain by frustration and say that I just think, given the fact that we just managed to work with the government to get the Belize barrier reef off the World Heritage Endanger list, I think this is such a stupid move to even entertain the idea of dumping the dredge spoil in the marine environment and so close to the reef. And don't tell me that modeling has shown that it won't impact the reef."
And while residents paid keen attention to the consultation, so did the CEO in the Ministry of the Blue Economy. Kennedy Carrillo also called in to let the consultants know that they need to be involved in the process.
Voice of: Martha Kennedy Carrillo, CEO, Ministry of The Blue Economy
"The mandate of our ministry is to ensure that there is perfect equilibrium between the use of our ocean resources for economic growth and the protection and conservation of our rich oceanic ecosystem. We are very keen on learning more about this EIA and please keep in mind that when this project started there was no Ministry of the Blue Economy but now we are here and we must be a part of these important deliberations and decisions."
But while the consultants insisted that Belize's status as a World Heritage site will not be affected, and that tourism stakeholders should not be concerned, the takeaway from the consultation is that Belizeans are closely paying attention and are lobbying against the expansion project for the Port of Belize.
