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Reinforcing Alliance to Protect Mesoamerican Reef |
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By Jorge A. Grochembake*
Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico are setting up new studies aimed at preserving the second largest reef on the planet.
GUATEMALA CITY - Experts from Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico will begin field studies in July to establish fishing regulations for the threatened Mesoamerican Reef, the largest in the Atlantic Ocean, and the second in the world.
Extending a thousand kilometers, the reef embodies an exuberant natural spectacle from the Yucatan Peninsula in southern Mexico, to the islands of the bay of Honduras.
Its rich biological diversity, which includes marine species in high demand by the seafood industry, such as snails, mero and lobster, is suffering the pressures of commercial fishing, tourism and even deforestation.
To ensure the sustainability of the coral network and associated ecosystems -- including mangroves and sea marshes -- an intensive effort is needed in education, training and information sharing, says Miguel Angel García, head of environmental monitoring for the Mesoamerican Reef System (SAM for its Spanish initials).
With financing from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) of the World Bank, SAM is a conservation initiative covering an area that connects the territories and territorial waters of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.
As part of this endeavor, experts in each country will begin field research to monitor key areas of SAM.
For example, biologists will track the reproduction behavior of fish species that are of high commercial value.
The fishing communities "have identified the sites where they congregate in order to take greatest advantage of them," said García. The results of the studies will provide a basis for recommendations for regulated fishing, he explained.
Coral reefs are a sort of skeleton in shallow waters, made up of coral colonies that need various types of algae in order to survive. Through photosynthesis, the algae produce the calcium carbonate that the coral needs to fix itself to the reef.
Barrier reefs protect coastal ecosystems and serve as reproduction and feeding sites for marine mammals, reptiles, fish and invertebrates, explains Daniella Guevara, of Mexico's National Commission on Protected Areas.
The Mesoamerican Reef is the second largest on earth, after the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. Because of its size, trans-border zones of priority have been established in order to reinforce mechanisms for reef protection.
Key sites include parts of the Chetumal Bay (Belize and Mexico) and of the Gulf of Honduras (Belize, Guatemala and Honduras).
One of these zones is the Chinchorro Bank biosphere, the richest reef in Mexico, off the southeastern coast of Quintana Roo state. Also selected was the Cayos Cochinos archipelago, a set of islets and keys in the Honduran Caribbean.
As part of the SAM project, protection rules were enacted in Gladden Spit in Belize, an egg-laying site for mero and pargo fish.
That fishery attracts the whale shark and has become an important tourist destination. The project efforts aim to control diving and fishing in the area.
The preservation initiative "is already being executed," says Alda Gamboa, director for biodiversity at the Honduran Secretariat of Natural Resources and Environment (SERNA).
But, she adds, "In nearly all countries involved there is damage."
In the case of Honduras, which along with Belize has the highest conservation levels, the reefs are affected by a stress phenomenon known as bleaching, caused by "the sedimentation resulting from the extensive deforestation that Honduras suffers," says Gamboa.
Because coral does not tolerate changes in water temperatures, the warming of the oceans -- associated with climate change -- also contributes to bleaching.
In spite of actions on numerous fronts, "we have not achieved total protection," the Honduran official admits.
Effective reef protection requires "regional management, because it is not possible to isolate the parts belonging to one country from the rest of the reef system," Gamboa said.
SAM entered into force in mid-2001 with a 15-year plan, divided into three five-year phases.
* Jorge A. Grochembake is a Tierramérica contributor.
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