PM Briceño Defends Blue Bond Marine Protections

As debate heats up in Belize’s fishing industry over proposed marine protections tied to the Blue Bond deal, Prime Minister John Briceño is pushing back, insisting conservation won’t come at the cost of livelihoods. Fishers and tour operators warn that expanding protected areas could choke off access to lobster and conch grounds, threatening jobs and coastal economies. But the Prime Minister insists the science tells a different story, arguing that marine reserves don’t eliminate fishing but strengthen it over time by allowing stocks to recover and spill over into surrounding waters. PM Briceño responded directly to the concerns raised by fishing groups, pointing to existing marine reserves as proof that protection and prosperity can go hand in hand.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“If we eat everything we have today, tomorrow we noh have none! And what these protected areas do a number of things. One is to protect the marine life and the fish and the conchs and everything else. And that it will have more, not too far away positive effects for us. I can tell you when we did the marine reserve for Port of Honduras down South, I remember the late Mike Espat was very upset. He said, oh, but the people they cant go fish in deh. And as we explained to him back then, he says, listen, the fish grow. And they don’t stay there. Then they go out of that area and then you could fish, you could get bigger fish, and now people are seeing all the benefits of that. Glovers Reef, I was down there I think it was earlier this year and one of the guides, we were in a boat and he was telling us, you see right here this area we mind this because if you see any boat weh noh belong in this we call Coast Guard, we call fishing department. Hey, there’s a boat that does not belong here. And I said, why? He said, because now that we have this area under protection outside of this area we have bigger fish. We have bigger fish. We have bigger conch, bigger lobster. So there is some benefits, right? So we need to listen to their concerns. We need to sit down and show them the science behind of these decisions.”