And looking at other ecological threats on the island, we also spoke to the Minister about the chronic sargassum problem his island faces.
It's lifted now - but it's coming back in a few months.
Perez spoke about the lessons learned in the past few months which saw the heaviest dump of sargassum on record.
Andre Perez, Minister of the Blue Economy
"In terms of the Sargassum it is always a constant battle; it is a never ending battle with everybody getting involved with it as of the equipment that DOE got and the satellite images to track down where the sargassum is coming. Obviously you might think it is a no brainer. It is always coming to Belize. But it is a regional problem and we have to be more smart in dealing with this right in many ways to attack it but again so far we have not come up with that magic potion that would be able to solve them right? But, again, preparing ourselves for what is coming forward, what is ahead of the day, what is coming up is important so all of these tools are being put into consideration. But I'll make it clear, it is not the solution to it but part of added layers to eventually coming to tackling an arrest on the sargassum issue."
"You know it is always something that is never good for business, certain stakeholders were upset that the government is not doing enough but you know it is a regional problem. I am not deflecting it or running away from responsibility, but it is a concerted effort from everybody's part and of course government must lead, we are doing our part and the different stakeholders must be involved as well the BTB the sargassum task force that we are working with and the different MPE's that try to work along with them especially in Hol chan and the machines that try to work it comes under controversy because they say it is not enough and obviously these two machines are not enough for attacking just about everything but it is effective. What is being said is that more is needed it is a fleet that we need so I just want to call out those who laugh at it or scoff at it when we are asking them to jump and join us let us work altogether instead of just pointing fingers at one another it does not make sense and it doesn't solve anything other than take us anywhere."
