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The objective of the second request for proposals is to finance innovative applied management practices in the initial network of short-listed coastal and marine protected areas in the MAR.
The objective of this project was to build capacity among local stakeholders in the coastal protected areas in Southern Belize to develop skills to promote a fuller and more effective participation in conservation.
The Program was completed successfully by 13 stewards. They received training in basic computer skills, report presentation and writing, and communication. Use and management of GPS devices was also included in the training program.
Radios, GPS units, spotlights, binoculars, life vests, raincoats, and flashlights were purchased and provided to each one of the community leaders who completed the training.
The project aimed to strengthen the SWCMR Advisory Committee, and to improve the community engagement and its environmental knowledge.
The Tobacco Caye Marine Station (TCMS) was built on Tobacco Caye, located within the South Water Caye Marine Reserve. The station includes a multiple use room furnished with two storage closets, one working table, and 12 benches for 2 persons each. Two computers with
Internet access are available, powered through a solar energy system. The purpose of the station is to provide training opportunities to groups of college students and school children. The website of the marine station has been designed and published (www.tcmsbelize.org) and
includes information on the activities carried out in the station.
An environmental education program was implemented for 180 students from six schools of the Stan Creek community. Children participated in field trips to the South Water Caye Marine Reserve (SWCMR) and the Tobacco Caye Marine Station (TCMS), learning about bio-diversity and the importance of and threats to coral reefs, mangrove forests, and sea grasses.
The TCMS webpage was created www.tcmsbelize.org.
The main objective of this project was to influence the restoration and conservation of Cocolí Bay in the Río Sarstún Multiple Use Area and to increase fish populations, which have shown a considerable decrease.
Members of a cooperative named Cooperativa Integral de Pesca Río Dulce, Livingston, who engage in shrimp fishing through trawling, and fishermen from the Río Sarstún Multiple Use Area, who are not trawlers, proposed two different no-trawling zones in Cocolí Bay and designed the respective fishing management plans.
The Fisheries and Aquiculture Management Unit (UNIPESCA), the Guatemalan Fisheries Authority, is evaluating both proposed no-trawling zones with the intent of fusing them into one single zone and including it into the revised regulations of the Fishing Law.
The fishing community of Cocolí Bay participated actively in building and installing three fish aggregation devices in the bay to protect and increase the fish population in the area.
The project was design by the Bay Islands Conservation Association of Utila (BICA-Utila), to provide technical support for the management and improvement of the quality of natural resources in the marine area around the island.
BICA-Utila implemented an environmental education plan for 344 children in six schools on the island. The plan included activities such as Pumpkin Hill Beach Clean-up and a puppet show about waste recycling, among others. BICA also repaired, mapped and numbered the dive site mooring buoys within the Utila marine area, and designed a Code of Conduct for tourists that was distributed among the visitors. The Visitor Center was completed and it is already in operation.
The project was design by the Bay Islands Conservation Association of Utila (BICA-Utila), to provide technical support for the management and improvement of the quality of natural resources in the marine area around the island.
BICA-Utila implemented an environmental education plan for 344 children in six schools on the island. The plan included activities such as Pumpkin Hill Beach Clean-up and a puppet show about waste recycling, among others. BICA also repaired, mapped and numbered the dive site mooring buoys within the Utila marine area, and designed a Code of Conduct for tourists that was distributed among the visitors. The Visitor Center was completed and it is already in operation.
The objective of this project was to implement a sustainable use of Queen Conch through a regulated fishery, fair marketing and integral use of the product.
The multi-institutional Committee against Environmental Crime was created through this project. Over 100 people from public entities that integrate the Committee were trained by the Natural Protected Areas National Commission (CONANP) and improved their surveillance skills and results.
Some results of this project are, among others: the allowed volume of Queen conch extraction was reduced to 6 tons – half the volume allowed in 2008, and the closed season for Queen conch extraction was increased by two months.
The objective of this project was to implement a labeling system that promotes the fair and sustainable marketing and that supports the biological monitoring of the spiny lobster.
The collective lobster brand “Chakay from Banco Chinchorro and Sian Ka’an” was certified in June, 2009. Since its creation, lobster has increased its market value by 30% because its sustainable fishing methods are recognized by restaurants, hotels and individual buyers who are willing to pay more for a product that is managed in a sustainable manner. In addition, the Cooperative now sells the product directly to the customers without going through middlemen.