The Ministry of the Blue Economy and Civil Aviation is reporting tonight that there is a major cause for concern at the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. An ongoing audit of the revenues generated by this protected area is indicating that almost 4 million dollars were mismanaged, and an additional 1.7 million may be lost as bad debt.
Located just 4 miles south of San Pedro Town, HOL CHAN was established as the country's first marine protected area back in July 1987. Today, it encompasses 102,400 acres of ecologically linked coral reef, sea-grass meadows, and coastal mangrove swamp habitats. The sustainable management of this important protected area is supposed to be carried out by a Board of Trustees, which was established in 1994. A visitor fee generates revenues, and to ensure that the reserve can pay for its own operational costs in the long-term. A Trust Fund was set up to hold the money generated by those visitor fees.
Upon taking office, Andre Perez, the new minister of the Blue Economy, commissioned an audit to get a true picture of the Reserve's finances. An audit team has since been reviewing, and according to Perez, they have found some worrisome financial irregularities which he is describing as mismanagement by its former management team.
And while the audit isn't finished - elections are coming, and he scheduled an impromptu press conference at the island office of the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. With the help of our colleagues from the San Pedro Sun News Paper, here are a few of the bullet points he made about the audit team's preliminary findings:
Perez says that as soon as the full audit is completed, he will report back to the Belizean public about what exactly was found, and what the legal advisors are recommending as possible redress.
This evening, we contacted the former Executive Director of the Hol Chan Marine Reserve, for comment, and we asked specifically about the assertion from the Minister that he owes just over 58 thousand dollars as part of a staff loan given to him. Up news time, our calls, and our messages to him remained unanswered.
