Belize - WIDECAST

CEP Technical Report No. 18
that 44% of adult non-breeding leatherbacks had plastic in their stomachs. In Belize, as is true
throughout the Caribbean Sea, dumping violations by the boating community are difficult to
monitor and require a concentrated effort at public education, coupled with stiff penalties for
offenders. A recent problem has been the disposal at sea of plastic bags by the banana industry.
These bags have been observed wrapped around corals and entangled on the prop roots of
mangroves. Balazs (1985) summarized worldwide records of ingestion of oceanic debris by sea
turtles and listed a wide variety of items consumed, including banana bags ingested by green
turtles off Costa Rica.
Garbage is a serious and growing problem in some areas, such as the Sapodilla Cays and
Goff's Cay. Manatee Bar, an important hawksbill nesting site, is heavily littered with
ocean-borne debris. Regulations enacted in 1980 made it unlawful to discharge or dump ballast,
sewage, garbage, liquids, etc. in Belize territorial waters, but enforcement is hindered by a lack
of resources (Hartshorn et al., 1984). The Environmental Protection Act (No. 22 of 1992) also
restricts dumping at sea. It is a recommendation of this Recovery Action Plan that relevant
legislation be fully enforced, and that a public awareness campaign be launched to encourage
boaters to properly dispose of waste at shore-based facilities. Announcements should be
prepared for radio and newspaper. The campaign should be sponsored jointly by the
Government, the non-government conservation community, and the national media. In 1992,
Belize, through the Ministry of Tourism and Environment, participated in the international
beach-cleanup campaign organized by the Center for Marine Conservation (Washington D.C.).
4.145 Oil exploration, production, refining, transport
Belize has no facility to dispose of or to recycle used oil. Such a facility should be
provided as a matter of urgency. Used oil is presently disposed of in any convenient way,
including spilt in coastal areas. The accumulation of tar balls and small mats of tar is an
increasing problem in some areas, such as Placencia and Ambergris Cay (and other islands near
to Belize City, the principal port). These may be the product of ballast-dumping and tanker
washing by ships outside Belizean waters (Hartshorn et al., 1984). Given the potential hazardous
effects of oil contaminants on sea grasses and coral reefs, bilge pumping and other point sources
of oil should be closely regulated. The proximity of Belize to offshore oil discoveries in
Mexican waters has spurred exploration for oil in Belizean waters. To date, there have been no
discoveries and all 40 exploratory wells were capped successfully before abandonment (see
Perkins, 1983, for details).
When we consider both the potential for shipwreck on the reef and the fact that two oil
tankers carrying a total of about 55,000 barrels of fuel visit Belize each month, the possibility of
oil spills is very real. In 1990, a minor spill occurred from an oil barge near San Pedro, and in
1988, a barge sank on its way to Belize from Honduras (Young et al., 1992). It is a
recommendation of this Recovery Action Plan that an Oil Spill Contingency Plan be developed
and implemented, and that Government proceed with the acquisition of emergency equipment
and personnel training. An "ecosystem vulnerability index" to determine which ecosystems and
re-sources are most sensitive to oil pollution should be compiled (Price and Heinanen, 1992).
The vast expense of cleaning up oil spills could probably be met only through international cooperative
agreements and sharing of costs, such as are encouraged by the Protocol to the Carta-
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