21st Century Small-scale Fisheries of Belize: A Legacy of Eroding Size-Spectra, Trophic Shifts and Underinvestment in Fishery Management

Alexander Tewfik, Myles Phillips, Richard S. Appeldoorn, Elizabeth A. Babcock

After 100 years of commercial fishing, the coastal waters of the globally significant Belize barrier reef complex are showing signs of overfishing, food web compromise and loss of biodiversity. These challenges are exacerbated by multiple ecosystem stressors including climate change and nutrient enrichment. The Government of Belize has had some success in facilitating ongoing fisheries production and increasing exports through large and long-term investments in an internationally recognized marine protected areas (MPAs) network, including a UNESCO World Heritage site, and banning of several gear types (trawlers, gillnets, air-supply systems). However, increasing fishing effort has resulted in significant removals of juveniles across a broad swathe of species. While the scale and complexity of the co-managed MPA system is impressive, the sheer scale of fishing impacts may render MPAs insufficient as the primary tool for their mitigation. Given finance limitations, blue bonds, via private sector investment, are being used to promote ocean and coastal area conservation, most notably through large expansions of no-take and multiple use MPA areas. The success of this approach will be measured using common, but overly simplified evaluation metrics (e.g., area conserved) despite limited local or international evidence that these metrics equate to conservation impact. In addition, the use of more traditional, species-specific fisheries sustainability policies, including minimum sizes and fishing bans for a number of large, reef-obligate groupers, snappers and sharks, have largely not been implemented nor specifically proposed even as temporary measures to allow stocks to rebuild. Such approaches should take place under well considered species management plans as mandated in the most recent Belize Fisheries Act. The lack of such actions over decades has contributed to a steady erosion of marine populations with increasing negative consequences for fisher livelihoods (3000+), associated processing jobs (15,000+), food security for a population of 400,000 and benefits from over half a million visitors annually.