BELIZE FISHERIES DEPARTMENT AND THIS UDP GOVERNMENT DO NOT SUPPORT PROTECTION OF SPAWNING FISH STOCKS!

This Belize UDP government DO NOT support conservation of spawning fish stocks!


Fisheries conservation debate ( taken from Belize culture listserve ) to join send a message to: bz-culture-request@psg.com and in the body of the email put subscribe There should be no headers or signature files.
--------------------------------------------

Trevor,
I think you've been put in your place. Obviously Mary has much more pertinent and more data than you.
From what little about Bz fishing I've read in this forum I don't recall environmentalists applauding anything but the "catch and release " policy.
Do some more proper research on this topic before you spout your ignorance (= lack of data, not stupidity) publicly, in your own interest?
Regards,
Bill.


On 28.09.2010 13:28, Mary Toy wrote:
>
> Trevor, not one single “environmentalist” in Belize supports shrimp trawlers. Talk to your government and the previous government about why they’re still here. We’ve tried to get them banned from the South for many years. The government and the Northern Cooperative wants them there and their political connections keep them there. So, stop already!!!!!!
>
> As I’ve said many times on this list, the catch and release legislation is great for Belize because it enhances our world reputation as a responsible and sustainable fishing destination and brings in more fly fishing anglers who have lots of money to spend. Few people can make a living off straight commercial fishing anymore, so the fishermen have to do something, and guiding fly fishermen is a good substitute at over US$300 a day if they work for themselves. (I’ve offered to send the economic studies about how much money fly fishing brings into this country to anyone who wants them, but nobody has asked.)
>
> Also, I don’t see you advocating banning gill nets, which are currently doing more damage than the trawlers in terms of our fisheries. Also, what about the practice of allowing commercial fishing of spawning aggregations, such as happens at Gladden Spit with the snappers every year? Why in the world, with fish stocks declining as rapidly as they are, would Belize allow fishermen to commercially catch and sell spawning fish? But, Fisheries does, SEA does, why?
>
> Attention also needs to be focused on the now-legal harvesting of sea cucumbers which is probably going to radically change our reef structure (and not for the better), the threat of mechanized fishing by foreign fleets outside the reef, the still imminent danger of Jamaican exploitation of our fish stocks, destruction of mangroves, corals and seagrass beds when developing cayes (mostly by foreigners who pay next to nothing for the cayes and are destroying prime fish habitat), agricultural runoff carrying toxic wastes into the ocean, human sewage being dumped in the ocean from our sewage systems (or lack thereof), cruise ships and overfishing by our own fishermen.
>
> Trawlers are bad, we all agree with that. But there are many other issues that also need public attention drawn to them, and you don’t need to belittle “environmentalist activists” who are attempting to do just that. There are few enough of us as it is. You may have also noticed that most of us are not what you’d call politically well connected or well funded – at least not enough to take on the political connections and money interests that protect the shrimp trawlers. Maybe you are. If that’s the case, get them gone, but please realize that nobody in the environmental community supports them AND that there are other issues where we are more likely to make a difference. When you have limited resources, you have to make choices.
>
> On 9/27/2010 7:38:03 PM, tc vernon (tre.ver.belize@gmail.com) wrote: