Editor's Note: The year 1997-2001 has been proclaimed International Year of the Reef, with the goal of raising awareness, among both the general public and the international scientific community, of the threats facing coral reefs and the steps being taken to protect them. More than 40 organizations, including the World Wildlife Fund, UNESCO, and the Smithsonian, are participating. Peter Eltringham, co-author of The Rough Guide to Guatemala & Belize, reports for Belize First Magazine on the state of the 150-mile-long barrier reef off the coast of Belize - the fifth-longest reef in the world, after one in Australia, two in New Caledonia, and one in Fiji - and what Belize is doing to save it. From Ambergris Caye to Caye Caulker and points south, he finds enthusiasm for reef preservation, but he also sees many cases where Belize's tough laws are not being enforced.
Sir Alfred Wallace, on the splendor of a coral reef he saw in Indonesia in the 1860s
The Victorian naturalist's thoughts on the underwater world of Indonesia, which I read in an introductory leaflet for the International Year of the Reef, reminded me just how awestruck I was, 16 years ago, at my own first sight of living coral, when the vivid colors of Caye Caulker's reef astonished my senses.
Until I saw the leaflet, I'd never heard of the Year of the Reef before, but it seemed a timely and worthwhile idea, so, in August 1996, with the text of the new edition of The Rough Guide safely sent off to London, I decided to revisit the cayes of Belize and see how the country, claiming the longest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere, planned to celebrate - and protect - one of its greatest assets.
Coral reefs, surely among the world's most spectacular natural sights, are found in more than 100 tropical countries. They are regarded as the rain forests of the sea due to their tremendous biodiversity. Reefs are economically vital to many coastal communities, including those in Belize, traditionally fished for protein foods and increasingly as a source of employment and foreign currency.
Many coral reefs are now endangered, scientists say. An estimate 10 percent of the world's reefs have already been seriously degraded, and the threat to the remainder is accelerating. The biggest problems are seen in areas adjacent to population centers, resulting from coastal development, sewage and agro-chemical contamination, over-fishing, and unregulated boating and diving. Experts say we cannot continue to damage reefs at the rate we are doing and still expect to have the commercial benefits and recreational pleasure enjoyed during recent decades. The tourism boom of the last 20 years has made coral reefs accessible to vast numbers of people. Those of us who have derived pleasure or income from snorkeling, scuba diving, or eating lobster have a duty to help preserve them.
The year 1997-2001 will be a critical year for all reefs, but for Belize in particular the decisions made over the next year will make the difference between continued prosperity and the survival of the reef and the relentless degradation and decline of a priceless natural asset.
Ambergris Caye and the
New Bacalar Chico National Park
Calabash Caye and Points
South
