What is the future of fisheries in Toledo and Belize (Part 3)

Dr. Joseph Palacio has kindly provided the following brief notes/report to TIDE on the meeting held on Wednesday 9 December, 2009.  Dr. Palacio facilitated the meeting with grace and command and we are pleased to share his report with you:

On the morning of Wednesday, December 9, 2009 Ms. Celia Mahung of TIDE got in touch with me to facilitate a public consultation on the above topic to take place at 3:00 p.m. on the same day. I agreed and on reaching the TIDE office I was given a folder with some background information on the topic.

When I arrived at the Fr. Ring Parish Hall at 2:45 p.m. there was ongoing a meeting but already there were some persons outside, who had come for our public consultation. Furthermore, many persons attending the ongoing meeting stayed to participate in our own. We went over a few last minute details with Joe Villafranco, which included that he would introduce me and that I would take over. After finishing, I would hand over to me so he could make some final comments.

The consultation started and after brief introductions we went straight into the main topic. In my question as to whether there was anyone from the Cooperative Department, the Rio Grande Co-operative, the Joint Partners, or the Fisheries Department in the audience, Mr. George Myvett answered that he was there representing the Fisheries Department. I allowed him to open the floor. He started with the matter of the formal jurisdiction over Belizean waters under the UN Convention of the Sea as a way of showing where Belize has full rights over its territorial waters. He also mentioned briefly the draft agreement that had been signed between Rio Grande Co-operative and its joint partners. After Mr. Myvett’s opening salvo, there was a rush of persons who wanted to speak. We devised a structure whereby persons wanting to voice their opinion could go by one of the microphones in the middle of the floor and stand in line until their time came to make their intervention. One of the first persons after Mr. Myvett was a Jamaican man working for the joint venture company, who praised the merits of the agreement. But he was the only one who spoke in favour. Everyone else spoke against.

The opposition came not only from the expatriate-Belizeans, many of whom had their resorts or related businesses, but also from a wide cross-section of Belizeans – fisherfolk, fishers involved in tourism, members of the BTIA branches, homeowners, former Mayor of Punta Gorda, etc. Some of the points they raised were the following:

• The signature of the Co-op Dept personnel on the proposed agreement gave the impression of government approval
• The time life of the agreement – 15 years was too long
• The rental-purchase agreement for Belizeans re boats
• A person working with the Port Authority said that on going into one of the boats he found that the captain did not have an international captain’s license.
• The limited amount of fish available for Belizeans
• The wide scope of the agreement to fish in freshwaters as well as anywhere else
• Lack of an EIA
• The conversion of the current Co-op Office in Punta Gorda into an apparent dwelling house
• The conditions under which the Co-op had gotten their papers for the lot in the first place.
• The lack of presence in the consultation of key persons from the Co-op, the Co-op Dept, the Department of the Environment, etc.

At the end I allowed Mr. Myvett to again take the floor. And in his presentation he admitted that government had not given its permission to the agreement.

Finally, Joe Villafranco was able to get a show of hands to confirm that the vast majority of persons in the consultation were not in favour of the agreement.

Generally, the consultation went very well. The persons patiently took their time to make their interventions. Most people spoke articulately stating the reasons for their opposition. In the end everyone felt that they had learned a great deal and their former sense of opposition was strengthened by the group energy in the consultation.

Finally, I want to give much credit to TIDE for conducting the public consultation.

Joseph O. Palacio

December 10, 2009.

 

What is the future of fisheries in Belize (Part 2)

Parish Hall in Punta Gorda was full – with standing room only -  for a meeting to learn more about the Venture Agreement between a Jamaican Company and the Rio Grande Fisherman Association. Fishers and those who care about Belize and fishing were present at this important meeting. People traveled to gather in Punta Gorda to have their say.

Joseph Villafranco, Program Manager for TIDE introduced several members of the audience as experts in their fields including Larry Epstein from the Environmental Defense Fund and George Myvette from the Fisheries Department.  Introduced was Dr. Joseph Palacio who served as facilitator of the meeting who described the afternoon as a “journey” and an “airing of concerns”, one in which people who wanted and needed to be heard would be able to provide input.

Mr. Myvette provided a brief overview of the Joint Venture process for the group. After several people had spoken, Derick Osbourne spoke from the floor on behalf of the Jamaicans.

The afternoon provided several clear themes from an articulate group of speakers who spoke eloquently and with passion about the issue:

There was disappointment that no representatives from the Rio Grande Cooperative came to the meeting, despite the understanding of several people that a committment was made to do so at the Town Council meeting

This is not a local issues, it is a national issue

Enforce consultation, the process is important

Ban gill nets and ban fish traps

The Venture Agreement should be declined for the good of the people of Punta Gorda and for the good of the people of the nation of Belize.

What are the next steps? We will be learning more every day and will seek to share that with you.

 

What is the future of Fisheries in Toledo?

A meeting at Parish Hall in Punta Gorda today 9 December 2009 at 3:00 pm  Will the meeting answer the provocative question that titles this blog – not at all, nor is it intended to.  The conversation that will occur will be important to understanding the future of fisheries and of fisher folk in Belize. Again, the conversation will not answer all the questions and will more likely raise more questions than will be answered.  That is why this is an important meeting – what are the facts – there has been a lot of information speeding around about the Jamaican fishing boats and plans, we are hopeful that concrete information can be made available to the people who care and to those who are concerned.

We have an obligation to create awarness, to help get the facts out, to hear from the community and to advocate for long term benefits for the community.

 

TIDE Wins Forest Department Award

We are very pleased to announce that TIDE has won the 2009 Co-Manager of Year award from the Forest Department for the co-management of the Payne’s Creek National Park. We know you share our excitement in this wonderful compliment to the services provided by TIDE.

The Forest Department

in the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment

presents this award to:

Toledo Institute of Development and Environment

for outstanding performance in Co-Management

of Belize’s protected areas

December 2009

“Overseeing the sustainable management of Belize’s Forest Resources”

In the nomination/application for the award the following information was provided:

The Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE) works collaboratively with the Forest Department in the provision of co-management of Payne’s Creek National Park. TIDE clearly demonstrates leadership and inspiration through involvement in work of a national fire policy, participating actively in all meetings, attending advanced training and providing training for local communities. In 2009 TIDE staff provided training in fire management for buffer communities of Cockscomb Basin.

Program Manager, Joseph Villafranco and the Co-Manager of Year Award

During the 2009 dry season, TIDE was successful in ensuring that Payne’s Creek National Park was free from fire. A late year fire was contained to grasslands and (although unplanned) was kept confined and actually had a positive impact in seeding the area.

TIDE made significant strides to complete up to 20 miles of black lining along access roads into park and along the boundary line with Deep river Forest Reserve.  Black line is a condition where no combustible fuels remain between the fire line and the main fire. TIDE rangers, field staff and volunteers have worked steadily to establish a black line that will help in the prevention and suppression of wildfires in Payne’s Creek National Park.

TIDE has contributed to the protection of biodiversity through research and monitoring with a focus on objectives within the Pine Savanna conservation target area based on past, present, and future work critical to biodiversity in southern Belize:  conservation and restoration of the Caribbean Pine; elimination of anthropogenic wild land fires; and elimination of the hunting of the Yellow-headed Parrot.

During the first six months of 2009 TIDE conducted a total of 128 regular patrols within the boundaries of the park focusing on all areas of the park. During the months April and May the focus was on land patrols covering the access route into the area from the southern highway day and night using bicycles and vehicles for illegal activities such as hunting and the setting of wild fires in the pine savanna in and around the park.

TIDE involves the wider community in awareness of protected area issues through the Environmental Education and Outreach component of TIDE programs. The active messaging and outreach to engage the community and schools includes the Freshwater Cup Football Tournament, a Summer Youth Camp, Youth Conservation Competition, a community Fish Fest and regular, organized beach and community cleanups, and education in schools. The 2009 Summer Camp Theme focused on the Pine Savanna ecosystem.

The Community Stewards program engages members of buffer communities providing an intensive education experience. TIDE Staff has also participated as learners and teachers of community based birding programs.

The Payne’s Creek National Park Advisory Committee is comprised of representatives from the Coastal Zone Management Authority Institute, Monkey River Village, Punta Negra Village, Rio Grande Fisherman’s Co-op, Monkey River Tour Guide Association, Large Land Owner/Developers in the area, Punta Gorda Tour Guide Association and the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment. Observers on the Committee include the Forest Department and the Punta Gorda Town Council.

TIDE has an active volunteer program engaging students at the University of Belize and international interns/volunteers. This in-kind assistance increases the depth of knowledge and energy provided by the talented and engaged staff.

TIDE works tirelessly to ensure that members of the buffering communities are involved in activities that bring money into the Toledo District. During the 2009 Fish Fest, vendors from local communities benefitted. TIDE Tours is actively working with partners in Belize and the United States to promote birding, an activity that has the potential to increase visitors to Payne’s Creek National Park and the local area.

TIDE has a strong team approach to fundraising, seeking financial support from foundation, corporate entities, government and individuals. The world-wide recession has made raising sufficient funding difficult, but the staff works to develop an increased number of potential funding sources that will benefit the park.

TIDE has increasingly developed depth in staffing with individuals committed to the mission and goals of conservation in southern Belize. The education, experience and talent of TIDE staff open the door for other activities that fall within the mission and can produce increased income. An increased use of social media through Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, blogs, and other Web 2.0 tools opens another audience to TIDE, an audience that is concerned with the environment and willing to give time and money to ensure that future generations are able to enjoy the world’s natural resources.

TIDE has established a cause page (over 50 members after a few weeks, currently 230 members) and a group page (almost 100 members in a few weeks) on Facebook to raise awareness within online communities and a blog has been established that will highlight weekly activities at TIDE. Added to the TIDE basic email list of over 2,500, outreach to world on the web through the website (undergoing a review pursuant to a rewrite), the use of social media invites an audience committed to the environment to actively engage with TIDE.  Next steps include a stronger presence on the web through quality video and pictures and fundraising using Twitter and other sites designed to link donors and nonprofit organizations that share a passion for a cause.

 

Our Reefs: Caribbean Connections (Part 2)

TIDE Senior Marine Biologist, Nicola Foster, shared an email from the organizers of the Our Reefs: Caribbean Connections exhibit giving me an excuse to share more photos on the blog.  We were pleased with the turnout for the exhibit and staff worked hard in a very short period of time to get organized to receive the exhibit and to ensure that as many students were able to take advantage of the opportunity.  If the exhibit returns, we will be letting you know and we will looking to better our new record!

From the email:

Wow–600 children and teachers from 7 schools in two days; I think you’ve broken any previous school attendance record!

You and TIDE can certainly feel very pleased and proud of that accomplishment.  After all your rushed, hard work, I am so pleased to hear that you’d entertain a return visit if we can manage to swing one in the future.

Best wishes,

Judy

Chris Hamley, Volunteer, sharing information with a rapt audience

Dr. Nicola Foster explains the exhibit to students

Development Director, Ruth McLean Dawson, helping students to get started

Senior Marine Biologist, Nicola Foster, talking with students

 

TIDE Freshwater Cup Video

UNICEF made a wonderful video describing the work of TIDE through the Freshwater Cup located in two parts on YouTube and by link on our website.

Freshwater Cup Video, part one

Freshwater Cup Viedo, part two

The TIDE Freshwater Cup is an important component of the environmental education and outreach strategy for the Toledo District in southern Belize. Five years ago (in 2005), TIDE recognized the need to transform the community to partner in sustainability of environmental initiatives. Using a sport of enormous popularity, football, the Freshwater Cup Environmental Football League was established to promote environmental education and action and mobilize the entire community.

Today a community committed by conviction, not imposition, to responsibility for protection of the area has contributed to a reduced level of waste on beaches, streets and highways. There have been campaigns on a variety of environmental topics and as a resident expresses “… (they) have understood that conservation can be, and is, a more stable source of income than devastation and contamination.”

On November 28, 2008 the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE) was awarded first prize in the Experiences in Social Innovation contest organization by ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean) with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The prize brought partial funding for 2009 activities and much needed attention to TIDE community based conservation work.

The next five years presents a continuing need for environmental education that is sustainable and creates a base of knowledge regarding climate change hazards that confront the watersheds and coastal areas of southern Belize.

 

TIDE maintains an active messaging strategy designed to raise awareness and involvement in conservation of the protected land of southern Belize. The Freshwater Cup uses the power of sport to increase awareness of conservation and environmental issues in the community. Each team, with the support of the village, conducts an environmental project that focuses on their watershed. The project is the key qualifier to participate in the football tournament. A Junior League is based out of the schools with each school completing an environmental project and participating in the football tournament.

The mission of TIDE is to foster community participation resource management and sustainable use of ecosystems within the Maya Mountain Marine Corridor of southern Belize for the benefit of present and future generations. The Freshwater Cup is one part of a full range of services provided by TIDE through co-management of Payne’s Creek National Park, the Port Honduras Marine Reserve, and the TIDE Private Protected Lands. As a component of the Environmental Education and Outreach program, the Freshwater Cup is part of aggressive and focused outreach campaign that engages the community and schools, and includes a Summer Youth Camp, Youth Conservation Competition, a community Fish Fest and regular, organized beach and community cleanups, and education in schools.

 

Your Impact on TIDE

Dear Supporter of TIDE:

Thank you for your generous financial and moral support to the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment. Your contributions have allowed us to retain the services of the TIDE Team that continue to work diligently to accomplish critical goals in Resource Protection, Monitoring and Research, and Environmental Education and Outreach.

We are thankful that you have not allowed the global crisis to prevent you from taking action. Whether by sharing what you know with family and friends, being an advocate or making a financial contribution, you are making a difference in the effort to preserve protected areas in southern Belize.

In 2009 we continued to lead communities in conservation by:

TIDE Ranger talks with fishermen

• Utilizing innovative ways to engage schools and communities through the Fish Fest, Youth Conservation Competition, the Freshwater Football League, essay contests, training for staff, community educators, teachers and children and engaged key individuals as part of the Community Stewards Program;
• Conducting outreach through an integrated plan of social media and print materials;
• Implementing the goals of the Maya Mountain Marine Corridor Conservation Action Strategy (learn more about MMMC);
• Protecting the resources of the Port Honduras Marine Reserve, Payne’s Creek National Park and the TIDE Private Protected Lands; and
• Conducting crucial research and monitoring biodiversity from Ridge to Reef, within the Maya Mountain Marine Corridor.

You are a vital partner in our mission.  Planning for 2010 requires TIDE to meet growing challenges to conservation and protected area management and to ensuring that hazards facing Belize as a part of a changing climate are understood and mitigated. We must maintain the momentum and your gift will sustain the essential work of TIDE. Stay in touch with us and see your support in action by regularly visiting our website, our blogs, and through The Rising TIDE! on Facebook and RuthAnneTIDE on Twitter.

Thank you for your tremendous support. Best Wishes in the New Year!

Celia Mahung

Executive Director

Please make your online donation at Philanthropy Ventures Foundation, designating your contribution for TIDE, send a check directly to our offices, or contact Development Director Ruth McLean Dawson. AND please forward this email to friends and family!

Toledo Institute for Development and Environment

One Mile San Antonio Road – Punta Gorda – Toledo District – Belize – www.tidebelize.org

 

Birds of the week

At the office, in my backyard and in other locations I frequently see three birds that have very similar coloring. The Social Flycatcher (myiozetetes similis), the Great Kiskadee (pitangus sulphuratus), and the Boat-billed Flycatcher (megarynchus pitangua). The Social Flycatcher is a bit easier to distinguish because it is much smaller than the other two with a proportionately smaller bill.

Social Flycatcher

Boat-billed Flycatcher

Great Kiskadee

The Boat-billed Flycatcher and the Great Kiskadee are a bit more difficult to distinguish without a careful loo. They are the same size. The Great Kiskadee has a smaller bill and a rufous panel on the wing that is conspicuous in flight. The Boat-billed Flycatcher has a thicker and broader bill and lacks the rufous pane on the wing. These differences are not always to identify when you have just one of the birds.

In making the distinction it is helpful have a book and I am using Birds of Belize by H. Lee Jones. The book gets credit for everything I get right in this blog and any errors are mine.

Apparently, the songs are the best way to distinguish between the two birds. The Great Kiskadee has a hoarse, slightly shrill deeee or a nasal kis-ka-dee! often shortened to simply kis-ka!. The Boat-billed Flycatcher has a rolling, squeaky cheeeurr; clear, liquid rrrrr; a raspy chee churur whit; a squeaky, but rough ch-choit or choit choit ch-choit with 2nd part rolled. The song is a very scratchy but liquid ch-e-e-e-e-e-e-it.

The birds are fairly common and easy to spot and are quite beautiful with their bright yellow underparts and black and white heads.  What I have learned is the birding is not just looking, but listening.

 

Our Reefs: Caribbean Connections

On Monday and Tuesday this week, TIDE hosted Our Reefs: Caribbean Connections, a traveling exhibit designed to promote awareness, understanding, and stewardship of coral reefs among all peoples of the wider Caribbean.

Over six hundred students and teachers viewed the exhibit aided by worksheets that encouraged the young people to carefully study the exhibit and by staff and volunteers from TIDE who enjoyed helping the students and answering their questions.  Students came from Julian Cho, TCC, St.Peter Claver, St. Benedict, PG Methodist, Cattle Landing and Adventist schools.

The introduction from the Our Reefs: Caribbean Connection website states:

As the title of this exhibit explains, those of us who live in the area of the wider Caribbean are connected by a precious and fragile natural resource, coral reefs. Just as we differ as peoples, cultures, societies, and economies, our coral reefs also differ as to types, habitats and health.

Yet all are entwined and related by ocean currents, upon which ride the offspring of reef organisms that might enhance the future growth and continuity of our coral reefs – along with the pathogens, pollutants, invasive organisms and trash that we humans add, which imperil their survival.

Natural threats to coral reefs, like hurricanes and disease, are further exacerbated by other human actions. As atmospheric CO₂ levels increase, the oceans are becoming warmer, more acidic, and less hospitable to reef organisms. Overharvesting of edible reef fishes has decimated many reef communities. Inappropriate activities on land, along coastlines, and in shipping lanes are especially destructive of nearshore corals reefs and their associated ecosystems, seagrass meadows and mangrove forests.

Visit the Our Reefs: Caribbean Connections website to view the exhibit shared with our local students. We really need more of this type of exhibit. The feedback from the students and teachers was enthusiastic.

 

Thanksgiving and you

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States, but we can extend the sentiment to Belize -  a simple time to be with family and friends, a day when we can step back and consider everything for which we are grateful.

TIDE is thankful -

• for the many people and organizations that support our work;
• for the beauty of Payne’s Creek National Park and the Port Honduras Marine Reserve and grateful that these protected areas are preserved for future generations;
• for the Private Protected Lands that TIDE holds for the people of Belize;
• for the TIDE staff who protect resources, conduct research and monitoring, and provide education and outreach;
• and for all of you, who take the time to read our blog and who care about conserving the protected areas of southern Belize and beyond.