Sea Cucumber Closed Season Announced for 2025

The Belize Fisheries Department (BFD) has announced that the sea cucumber fishery will be closed from February 1 to July 31, 2025. This closure is in line with Statutory Instruments No. 67 of 2009 and No. 107 of 2022. During this period, it will be illegal to harvest, buy, sell, or possess sea cucumbers. The fishing season opened on September 1, 2024, and was set to end January 31, 2025, or when the catch quota was met.

Under these laws, “No person shall fish for, harvest, buy, sell, possess, export, or attempt to export any sea cucumber species between February 1 and July 31, inclusive, in any year,” stated BFD.

Violating this closure, including possession of sea cucumbers during this period, “will be charged and prosecuted in a court of law in accordance with the Fisheries Regulations.”

The department encourages public cooperation in conserving this important resource. For more details or to report illegal fishing, the public can reach the Fisheries Department at 224-4552 or email fisheries_department@fisheries.gov.bz.