Category: Environment

Two days ago, we reported on a fire at the Cayo transfer station facility. While the blaze didn’t halt garbage collection, it significantly slowed down operations. Although the fire has been extinguished, smoldering trash underneath is still being doused to prevent reignition. Today, San Ignacio Mayor Earl Trapp informed us that there’s still a delay in offloading garbage at the facility. We spoke with Rojelio Pop, Operations Manager of Belize Solid Waste Management, who explained that aside from the fire, space constraints at the facility are causing additional issues.

On the Phone: Rojelio Pop, Operations Manager, BSWAMA

“Once we have charred or burned materials on the ground, it is a highly – what would be the best word – improper. Yes. It’s not logical for us to place any more waste on the compound, so until we can finalize that the fire is completely out, there’s no sort of embers, there’s nothing that can trigger an outbreak of the fire, then we’ll completely push all that waste down the hill, cover it with clay, so that it’s fully contained, then we can resume taking more waste. Currently, we have capabilities to manage right now because the compound isn’t clear. Thirdly, the transfer station has a certain capacity, and right now for it to work as it should, it cannot be overfilled. Right now it’s overwhelmed with waste because San Ignacio produces a lot of waste and then you combine it with other communities, Benque, other private providers, the system is so small that the capacity is overwhelmed easy. So the machines cannot go into the transfer station and for them to load from the chute, the machines have to go into the transfer station, they have to have maneuverability. That doesn’t exist currently. So really it’s about capacity. There are many challenges that the contractor is facing. So, it’s multifaceted, but even with that, if we push all of that chart burned waste from where it is right now and clear the component, and we – my aim would be to clear that off by next week, then we would be able to place more waste. And yes, we would not see behind the curtains of what is actually occurring because there’s that lingering problem with the contractual issues. That is a long-term problem. I’m not sure we are going to address that within a short period of time, but we would be able to place more incoming waste onto the compound because it will be safe, but the problem would still persist.”

On Tuesday, around thirty false killer whales were spotted inside the Belize Barrier Reef system, raising concerns among marine biologists that the creatures might be lost and stranded. These dolphins, named for their resemblance to killer whales, typically live in the deep blue sea but occasionally appear in our waters, as they did in 2018 and 2024. Fortunately, both times they managed to find their way back without any casualties. Today, two marine biologists ventured offshore near Belize City, hoping to locate the school of false killer whales. The good news? There was no sign of them, giving the biologists hope that the whales have safely navigated back to their natural habitat.

Marion Ali, Reporting

Today, marine biologist Jamal Galves set out to Drowned Caye, about nine miles offshore from Belize City, in search of a school of false killer whales. These dolphins, often mistaken for killer whales, had wandered into the shallow waters of the Belize Barrier Reef. Galves was joined by members of the Belize Fisheries Department and Nicole Auil-Gomez, Country Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society. Upon hearing about the whales’ presence, they were concerned and headed out to sea, with us tagging along.

Jamal Galves, Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute

“It’s not an animal that you typically see, especially in coastal waters. It’s known to occupy pelagic, deeper waters a thousand meters in depths. So, for it to be here is very unlikely. It’s not the habitat for it. It’s not where it feeds; it’s not where it used to be. So, there’s cause for alarm.”

False killer whales aren’t common around these shores, so fishermen might not know what to watch for. Marine biologist George Myvett, an expert in fish, gave me some tips on what to look out for.

George Myvett, Marine Biologist

“The killer whale as we know is a kind of black animal with some white features, white on the belly and white lateral spots. The false killer whale has none of those. The false killer whale is really dark with some latitudes of brown, but you know, there’s no mistaking the two species. At times they would be led off course by various things. It could be navigational aids; it could be really some of these animals might be become sick and there’s a kind of leader of the pack and they would follow that leader into areas that are not necessarily native habitat.”

After an hour at sea and checking two spots, no false killer whales were found. This gives Galves hope that the school has safely navigated back through the channel into deeper waters.

Jamal Galves

“They were seen yesterday near the Stake Bank, Drowned Caye areas. By all indications they were headed south. That would lead them to the English Caye Channel, which I presume is where they got into here. We’re hoping once they get into that channel, they’ll be able to figure themselves out. They’re very sharp navigators. If these animals end up beaching that presents a significant problem for us to deal with the carcasses. If the animals are beached and alive, normal interventions would be to try and float them back into sea if they’re alive. Other than that, if it dies, we’ll probably do a necropsy on the animal to determine cause of death. In some cases, these animals are euthanized to avoid suffering, depending on what conditions they are in. But oftentimes it’s not the entire pod that is compromised. It’s usually sometimes one or two animals that are compromised, but due to the tight knit of the pod, they tend to stay together. I’m very  much relieved that they weren’t seen and my hope is that they’ve actually made their way out and they’re on their journey.”

What we did spot was a group of local dolphins enjoying the sea. The males were paired up and seemed to be following a female, likely trying to mate. Marion Ali for News Five.

Over the past year, Mayor Earl Trapp of San Ignacio/Santa Elena has been vocal about the poor management of garbage at the western landfill facility run by the Belize Solid Waste Management Authority, located just outside the town. Trapp’s main concern is that the garbage hasn’t been moved to the transfer station at mile twenty-four on the George Price Highway quickly enough. This has led to heaps of trash piling up, even in front of the buildings at the landfill, leaving little room for more waste. Today, we noticed some improvements as the garbage piled at the front has been cleared away. However, Trapp is still urging for a proper system to be put in place.

Earl Trapp, Mayor, San Ignacio/Santa Elena

“They will need to put proper procedures in place to manage the garbage and to dispose of it so that we don’t come to that again because we were there in December of last year and it was really out of control, so I think that BSWAMA will need to do something to better is disposed of and then carried to the station. Get it out of that compound in a timely manner so it will not pile up like we saw in December. Right now I have a truck there from morning and still it cannot empty. Benque has garbage to take, the resorts have garbage to take so something has to be done so that garbage can be disposed of there as quickly as possible.”

Aldo Cansino, the Acting Director of the Belize Solid Waste Management Authority, told News Five that the issue wasn’t about procedures but rather contract management. He assured that the problem has been resolved with the contractor, and garbage should no longer be piling up in the front yard of the landfill facility in San Ignacio.

Aldo Cansino, Acting Director, BSWAMA

“We sat down with the operator, we highlighted several issues with the contract; he highlighted several concerns. Through dialogue, we were able to iron out some of those issues on both sides and we were able to proceed.”

Marion Ali

“Can you share those concerns?”

Aldo Cansino

“The road caused a delay and that diminished the number of trucks that came in. And from our end we had issues with timely payments. So these things – dialogue is important and that’s how we are able now to work together. We are joined at the hips because he has a contract and we have an obligation. So we’ve been trying to work it out. If you had come here sometime last year you would have seen that garbage was piled all the way to the front. Working with them, we almost had it back to normal so the plan that we had been executing was working. We also was looking at contingencies in the event that didn’t work so we already had identified how we would have addressed it like a plan B and a plan C.”

The Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute Belize is currently addressing a mass stranding of pilot whales in the Drown Caye area, just off the coast of Belize City. Authorities have issued an urgent advisory for the public and all marine vessels to avoid the area immediately. Approaching the stranded whales poses significant risks to both humans and animals. Pilot whales, known for their size and strength, can react unpredictably when distressed. The Institute’s response team, in collaboration with the Belize Fisheries Department and the Ministry of Blue Economy and Marine Conservation, is closely monitoring the situation and providing necessary aid to the whales.

Jamal Galves, Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute

“We’re looking at the incidents currently and I must say that these incidents have been occurring on a yearly basis, we’ve seen it over the last few years and we continue to monitor it. Currently, we’re just observing from a distance, hoping that they’ll make their way back to deeper waters before intervening. Should it become more urgent, should the animals come more closer to the coastline, should they get into more areas that are problematic for them, then we would intervene, of course in collaboration with the Fisheries Department and the Ministry of Blue Economy and Marine Conservation, along with our team, to see what best we can do. Pilot whales are typically some of the best navigators of the sea, so when they get into a situation like this, it already alludes that there are some problem that is [happening] among their pods. One of the common things is that pilot whales have very tight bonds with their pod, so one pilot whale could be sick or disoriented and it will cause the entire pod to get into problems.”

Whale sharks, typically seen in Belize during the spawning season, have been notably absent for some time. Experts suggest several possible reasons for this change, including climate change and unmonitored tourism activities. Additionally, there may be a decline in fish spawning, which affects the whale sharks’ feeding patterns. These gentle giants are known -to seek out warmer waters in this region to feed during spawning times. Jamal Galves from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute Belize says that whale sharks, just like pilot sharks, are being spotted in our waters.

Jamal Galves, Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute

“During the spawning season, whale sharks are known to be in Belize and records have shown that they haven’t been here for a while.  That could be attributed to many things, climate change, it could be unmonitored tourism activities.  Maybe the fish aren’t spawning as much as they used to, but I know of our whales, particularly, these parts of the world, the warmer waters is what they really seek to feed during these times.  Pilot whales are typical in Belize, they’re normally offshore so people are not aware of them, you’ll find them off Lighthouse, Glovers Reef and those places.  Actually, after the post was made, somebody reached out to me and they said that they saw pilot whales in Glovers’ Reef this weekend. It could possibly be the very same pod that is making its way into the coast.  There are numerous reasons for pilot whales to strand, it could be simple things like marine traffic, shipping noises, seismic testing.  Ocean noises can affect their hearing and their ability to navigate. One of the most important thing is that we want mariners to be aware of it, if possible, avoid going into that area. You don’t want to cause additional problems to a pod that is already compromised. People may be intrigued to want to go out there and see, but pilot whales can be dangerous, they do have teeth, unlike some other baleen whales, they can bite and so we’re asking people to stay away from them as best as possible.”

Galves contacted News Five with an update late this evening. He clarified that the initial report was based on a distant video showing what seemed to be pilot whales. However, new, closer footage clearly shows they are false killer whales. The public advisory hasn’t changed.

The ongoing erosion of Placencia beach has sparked concern among the community, leading to discussions on how to tackle the problem before the popular tourist spot loses its entire beachfront. The Ministries of Natural Resources, Sustainable Development, and Infrastructure Development recently met with Placencia residents to address the issue. News Five’s Marion Ali spoke with Brice Dial, the Placencia Village Council Secretary, and Albert Loewen, a property owner, who explained the plan to move forward. Here’s the report.

Marion Ali, Reporting

In March, several Placencia residents gathered at the beach to remove rocks that had been piled up in front of private property as a form of protection. The property owner, worried about erosion on his beachfront, had built the rock wall to preserve the area. However, environmental research shows that these rock walls cause erosion at other beachfront properties further south on the peninsula. Erosion has been a problem in Placencia for a while now. Brice Dial, Secretary of the Placencia Village Council, says that progress in one part of the area has led to problems for them in Placencia.

On the Phone: Brice Dial, Secretary, Placencia Village Council

“There’s a lack of flow of sand coming to the peninsula now, partly because of extraction of material from the South Stann Creek River and diversions to the river. There has been a diversion for pumping water, for irrigation for the banana farms. So that’s one of the issues.”

The erosion problem worsened for Placencia residents living south of the peninsula because those living to the north placed rocks on the beach in front of their homes to protect their beachfront.

On the Phone: Brice Dial

“If every single property owner along the coast is capturing sand, at some point there is going to be no sand moving down south, which is basically where we’re at right now. So that natural replenishment that used to happen isn’t happening, and we had a scientist here working along with a group called Strong Coast, and that scientist gathered data of the entire peninsula. And there was a meeting, I think it’s going on two weeks now. He said in the meeting, he’s a specialist with coastal erosion. He said that approach is not something that is recommended by the experts. It just fixes the immediate problem in front of a property, but overall it causes more damage than good.”

A Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of South Florida recently conducted a project in Placencia. She also weighed in on the erosion issue and shared Dr. Ping Wang’s suggestions from a community meeting on the topic.

Maya Trotz, Professor, Environmental Engineering, University of South Florida

“The question for here is, I think, do you go through that process of doing the rocks and the sea walls and then learning two decades later that you know, there is another way to do this? Or do you start sort of testing and doing some pilots on what beach nourishment might look like, coupled with many other things, so coupled with beach nourishment, but maybe coupled with adding more vegetation, so that you have some sort of dunes on the beach front that can also help to hold the sand. Many people here would like to see more literal forests and just the natural vegetation come back and then on the seaside, if you nourish the beach – so this is like bringing your sand onto the beach and then it over time will naturally form with a structure that would stay there for longer. You’ll continue to have to nourish, but it’ll be a couple years maybe, and then maybe, you know, Dr. Wang was talking this morning when we passed the Placencia airport, that that has a lot of rocks. It’s important infrastructure, but also that might be an area where you could cover the rocks and make that sort of a dune.”

Albert Loewen lives in the northern end, in Maya Beach. He came up with a plan to solve the issue.

Albert Loewen, Property Owner, Maya Beach

“I already asked somebody this week if I could start with my beach if I was allowed to barge in some sand to replenish my beach, and they said that’d be a good idea to actually do a trial on my beach at my cost to try barge in some sand and see how replenishment works. So I think that’s the approach and then we try to get government involved because again, Placencia generates a lot of income for Belize. The initial issue that Placencia had, they needed about $200,000 to fix their problem that they have right now, so they’ll have to spend about a half a million dollars to start with or more, but once we get it fixed once, we will probably only have to spend about a hundred thousand a year to keep the replenishment stable in on, on the, on the Placencia beach.”

Loewen estimates it will cost about a quarter million dollars to dredge material from the sea and fill the eroded beach. He believes this is a better option than placing rock walls along the northern end of the peninsula, which would eventually leave the entire south of Placencia without a beach. However, a recent meeting between the village council and relevant ministries has resulted in a plan. According to a press release, they are committed to addressing any human-induced factors contributing to the problem. They also acknowledge the impact of climate change on Placencia. The plan includes enforcing environmental regulations strictly against non-compliance and increasing vigilance through frequent inspections. Additionally, they will formally notify the Cabinet of the concerns raised by all stakeholders and the proposed actions by agencies to address the issue. Marion Ali for News Five.