Category: Seafood

For years, Belizeans have casually remarked that the country’s fisherfolk were overfishing lobster. These opinions often stem from witnessing the mass sales of undersized lobsters. Now, the Belize Federation of Fishers (B.F.F.), a non-profit organization, has released data from the Belize Fisheries Project in 2024, confirming these concerns. The evidence shows that public sentiment is indeed accurate. Supporting the B.F.F.’s findings, their partner, Sea Around Us, has presented compelling evidence to the government, indicating that Belize’s lobster stocks are at risk due to irresponsible fishing practices and a lack of strict enforcement by authorities. The B.F.F. has even warned that without stringent measures, such as significantly reducing the number of fishing licenses, Belize’s lobster stocks could be depleted within three years! Here’s News Five’s Marion Ali with Part One of a three-part report on the state of Belize’s lobster stocks.

Marion Ali, Reporting

On a random day, personnel from the Belize Fisheries Department, accompanied by the GI-3 Unit of the Belize Police Department scour the waters offshore the mainland to conduct searches and raids. They are looking for persons engaged in illegal fishing, and because the lobster season is open, particularly undersized lobster. The open lobster season means that some fishermen will wantonly extract legal as well as undersized lobster. On this Sunday, in August 2024, the patrol visited two fishing camps within a ten-mile distance from Belize City and stopped the only fishing vessel it came across in that two-hour patrol in that area that afternoon.

Hampton Gamboa, Compliance Unit Supervisor, Belize Fisheries Department

“Everybody got license?”

Fishermen

“Yeah.”

Hampton Gamboa

“Bout how much pound ah lobster unu have more or less total, estimated, in terms ah weight, pounds?

Fisherman

“like 3 – 350.”

The patrols are led by the Fisheries Department’s Conservation Compliance Unit Supervisor, Hampton Gamboa, who is responsible for enforcing fisheries regulations and compliance in the blue spaces across Belize. The patrols have become a major part of an improved enforcement system, he said, partly because of the dwindling lobster stocks in the region, and partly because of the research findings that non-government organizations like the Belize Federation of Fishers and the Sea Around Us have presented to the government. Dr Daniel Pauly is a Professor, Marine Biologist and lead researcher for The Sea Around Us.

Dr. Daniel Pauly, Marine Biologist

“The point is to maintain the fishing effort – the number of fishers, the number of gear, the number of boats or whatever at a certain level, that’s called managing the stock and the stocks in Belize are not managed right. So, what is happening now is that the lobster population is down and cannot generate the catch that it generated before. And the only way you can overcome that problem is fishing less for a while. If you fish less for a while, the stock can recover and if it recovers, then it can generate again and a big catch.”

George Myvett, Technical Advisor, Belize Federation of Fishers

“If serious measures are not taken to reverse and or to essentially stop the status quo of allowing an open-access fishery to continue, then we’re looking at two to three years before the industry crashes. There has to be a cap on the amount of licenses. because obviously, the resources are not only finite, but they are really in decline.”

Dwight Neal is a marine biologist who worked for 20 years with the Belize Fisheries Department before departing the government service to work in the NGO community in protected areas management. He has a completely different position on the state of Belize’s lobster stocks, but he believes there needs to be proper management of our lobster stocks.

Dwight Neal, Marine Biologist

“I don’t necessarily want to project that kind of gloom and doom picture. I don’t think it’s as bad as that, but it definitely needs management. It needs urgent attention. What it requires is a combination of policy, management decisions and enforcement.  And in most cases, we have the policy, and we have some of the management. Enforcement is a very expensive exercise, so while you can do policy and management primarily from a desk or from an office, enforcement, not so much. You need boats, you need bodies in boats, you need people to be out there.”

The Belize Federation of Fishers is headed by George Myvett, also a former Senior Fisheries Officer with the Belize Fisheries Department. He says the Federation relies on scientific research information provided by the Fisheries Project to form its position. The only viable way forward, he says, is for Belize to stick to its international commitments.

George Myvett

“We’re looking at the commitment that Belize has made to regional conservation efforts and one of those measures is to discontinue the harvesting of the four-ounce tails. This is so because the smaller size classes, the four-ounce tails (lobsters) have not had a chance to reproduce.”

Hampton Gamboa says the Fisheries Department has become more vigilant and has been enforcing the laws on its sea patrols, which sometimes include the Belize Coast Guard.

Hampton Gamboa

“Every tail that they have in their possession, lobster tail, has to exceed four ounces, and if it’s whole lobsters, then it has to exceed three inches in carapace length. So those are primarily what we look for as enforcement officers to ensure that the fishermen are in compliance with our laws and regulation.”

Myvett suggested that a two-year moratorium be implemented to give the lobster stock time to replenish itself.

In part two of this story, we’ll hear from two fishermen, who agree that there is overfishing of this valuable marine product.

This story was produced with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network.