Last night we took you to the Laughing Bird Caye National Park off the Placencia peninsula, and tonight we go even further south to the Sapodilla Caye Range.
It's a string of 14 islands, only a few miles from the Guatemalan line of demarcation - and is currently under the co-management of TIDE.
Jomarie Lanza took a 2 hour boat ride from Punta Gorda out to the site where she met with TIDE and Coast Guard to learn more about the work that they are doing on the reserve. Here's that story.
Along the southernmost tip of the Belize Barrier Reef System, lies The Sapodilla Cayes Marine Reserve, made up of three different cayes, under the protection and Co management of the Toledo Institute for development and environment, better known as TIDE. These protected zones, Hunting Caye, Lime Caye and Nicolas Caye, are heavily surveilled by TIDE rangers in collaboration with The Belize Coast Guard, and is known for to be a fish spawning aggregation site, a biological hotspot for hundreds of species of fish. TIDE signed its co-management agreement in October of 2023, and continues to remain active within the reserve.
Florencio Coc, Project Manager, TIDE
"So this is another projection of the map that we have if you notice here that this map outlines the entire reserve and within that reserve we have Seal Caye which is one of our SFA sites, we have Seal Caye up here we have Nicholas up there we have rise and bank and then the Cayman Crown, so our monitoring for FSA we have mostly focus on these three we have started working in the cayman crown however because of some international issues that we had with our neighbouring community or country then we kind of halt on that but I will discuss and share with you what is our approach to that."
"So why this is a unique area for us is because then part of cayman crown which isa this area is in Belize and the next part is in Guatemala so that is kind of becoming a, that has been our challenge because then our Guatemalan counterparts will say that because it is within their area or their country then they will want to completely take over so that has been our challenge but because of our presence as the enforcement agency we have done a lot of work in that area and again we also thank the coast guard because they are also our counterparts in enforcement."
"This has been one of the major infractions that we have, litter we have confiscated a number of Gillnets over time, a number of long lines so the enforcement team has been doing a lot of work under the Belize fund because without that support we would have not been able to travel that distance because then of course our marine system could be much more endangered."
In August of 2024, TIDE officially took over for the fisheries department who had maintained their presence out at the Cayes conducting enforcement and surveillance, but now thanks to grant funding, they have significantly enhanced their enforcement strategy, and conduct patrols weekly in collaboration with the Belize coast guard.
Leonardo Chavarria Jr., Executive Director, TIDE
"Its a reserve that was expanded in the year 2020 to 7 times its original size so just picture 38,000 acres that was the size of the Sapodilla Cayes Marine Reserve, so it went from 38,000 acres to over 321,000 acres so more than 8 times its original size and this happened within the past four and a half years so from since then we have been aspiring to co manage the reserve because we knew that TIDE had the expertise, in terms of personnel in terms of the research to be able to manage the area effectively and we are a grass roots organisation so we believe that there was not any other entity in the area that could have managed it better than us."
"So now when we used to spend about 150 gallons of fuel every ten days rotation we are starting to see a decrease now because of the technology that the Belize fund has supported us with and this includes long range camera systems whereby we could detect vessels up to 15km or ten miles away so all the way we can see what is happening at cayman crown and this is day and night due to this technology so, I could have the technology accessible on my phone, Mr Coc could, Mr Choc could and we could see what is happening at cayman crown or around the area so the FSA sites are better protected and we could do strategic patrols, meaning we don't have to go out there if there is no need to go out there so we conserve there is more fuel efficiency so the whole enforcement the change has been dramatic from the fishers department to now thanks to The Belize Fund right and other donors that have also complimented and supplemented us with assistance through the past four years."
But what exactly are they patrolling for? Coast guardsman, Lieutenant Allen Armstrong says that they are on the lookout for not just illegal fishers but also gillnets and other illegal fishing gear deployed in the waters.
Lt Allen Armstrong, Belize Coast Guard
"So here at hunting Caye where we are at the Sapodilla Caye Marine Reserve, with the Belie Fund we would conduct joint operations not only with TIDE as you all have heard about it earlier but we also conduct what we call the operation lighthouse or better known as the dotted line patrol these dotted line patrols is whereby we conduct patrols from here out at Hunting Caye all the way to Sarstoon. This is along the equidistance line so these are patrols that are conducted at least four times for the month so it's one per week. Besides that we also conduct what we call the corona reef patrol as well. The Corona Reef patrol is better known as the cayman crown patrol is also conducted once per week so these patrols are conducted four times for the month as well so we are looking at 8 patrols that the coast guard does within the cayman crown and then along the dotted line for the entire month."
"So at the Corona Reef one of our main things is Marine Resource protection right and most of the time it is illegal fishing and illegal fishers, mainly Guatemalans that are found in these areas so what we do is usually confiscate Gillnets right. Over the Recent year we have confiscated a little less than 8,000 feet of Gillnet. But just for this year alone January up until now in June we have confiscated over 15,000 feet of gillnet."
Under the Government Strategic Allocation, the Fund boasts that it has supported the achievement of four milestones under the Belize Blue Bonds conservation commitments. This includes the expansion of Biodiversity Protection Zones to 25% of Belize's ocean space.
