- Biodiversity
- Caribbean
- Marine Protected Areas
- Sustainable Livelihoods
2013 | CREST |
The Belize government’s official declaration on November 22, 2012 of the Turneffe Atoll Marine Reserve marked the successful culmination of nearly two decades of highly participatory efforts to put the last remaining atoll in the Belize Barrier Reef System under significant protection. Turneffe Atoll is an integral part of Belize’s reef system as well as a global “hot spot” for marine biodiversity. This analysis, by the Center for Responsible Travel (CREST), examines key issues facing the new 325,000 acre Marine Reserve and the Reserve’s two main economic sectors: commercial fishing and tourism. The study was funded by Turneffe Atoll Trust to better understand these issues.
In 2013, CREST released Balancing Sustainable Tourism & Commercial Fishing in a Marine Protected Area, Turneffe Atoll, Belize.
The purpose of this analysis is twofold: 1) to determine measures for building a successful Turneffe Atoll Marine Reserve that ensures sustainable tourism development and a sustainable commercial fishery, and 2) to analyze the potential for synergies between the Atolls’s tourism and commercial fishing sectors. As part of its research, CREST visited all of Turneffe’s tourism facilities and interviewed dozens of tourism, commercial fishing, research, and educational stakeholders from the Atoll. CREST also reviewed a wide range of pertinent scientific information from Turneffe, and elsewhere in Belize, as well as from other Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) around the world.
Based on six months of research, this report examines key issues facing the new 325,000 acre Marine Reserve and the Reserve’s two main economic sectors: commercial fishing and tourism.
Our findings demonstrate that carefully managed ecotourism and well-regulated commercial fishing both contribute significantly to the success of MPAs. In contrast, large-scale, improperly-planned tourism development and poorly regulated commercial fishing damage fragile marine and terrestrial ecosystems leading to ineffective MPAs.
The analysis concludes that Turneffe’s ecotourism and commercial fishing sectors share common interests in protecting the Atoll’s natural resources and that there is significant potential for synergy between these two key stakeholder groups. Active involvement of both commercial fishermen and ecotourism operators will be critical to the long term success of the Reserve