From: pgwil@btl.net Date: Friday, February 14, 1997 at 1:20:11 am EST For the new readers this is a very informal newsletter to inform you all of the latest environmental issues here in Toledo District, Belize. First of all I must apologise for my absence from the PC. Two reasons for my absence computer problems and I have been in the fields due to the call of duty.For a while now I have been deciding if I should really inform you of this part of the storey or not but I have decided to. A few months ago I informed most of the readers about the slaughtered manatees I found in the Deep river area of southern Belize. Many people responded and was as outraged as myself. I ended up giving several interviews to news magazines and one to the BBC in England. Ever since then we at the Belize Center for Environmental Studies have been busy doing manatee education reaching out to local communities fishermen, school groups etc. We have kicked off what we called "Operation Stepup" which means we would increase our presence in the area at the same time conducting environmental education to the local communities. We have citizens that volunteer to go on these patrols with us and hopefully our presence will keep away the manatee murders.Anyhow let me get straight to the point about weather I have been had or not. There are a few American families that live in the vicinity where the manatees were slaughtered. They have been living there for many years probably since the Vietnam war, they seem to keep to themselves and bother no one. Everytime I am in the area I would stop in and say hi and they would always tell me how I need to do more about these killings and show their support. At times congartulating me for being persistent etc. I am now counting these people as my allies. When I came upon the 9 decomposed carcases I immediately went to them to made them aware of the nine manatees that have just been murdered. They themself seem frustrated and told me we got to do something. I told them about my intention to start the citizen patrol etc. When they saw me later that month they contragulated me on my efforts. By this time I am saying I have some ears and eyes in the area meaning these good American citizens. This is a remote area accessible only by boat and fewer than 15 families live in the entire area. A few weeks ago like bad or good luck I was standing at the right place at the right time. I overheard a conversation at the pier as I was fuelling our boat. One of the Americas telling another that the guys who killed the manatees had actually stop by there place and asked them if they wanted to buy the meat. Which means while I was running around trying to find the killers these guys knew all along exactly who were the killers. Is a matter of fact I later learned that one of the American families was actually cooking the meat in their pot while I was visiting. I was so shocked to learn this I just could not believe my ears. I could imagine what they taught of me when I was asking them if they did not see any strange boats etc. in the vicinity. A week later I could not help it because it was on my mine so I stopped in as usual and confronted these people and let them know what I have learned and how dissappointed I was to find out that they actually had some of the meat. Well could you believe the justification for their storey? They said that they did not tell me because they were afraid of the Guatemalans who could come back after them for revenge and they have no kind of police protection. Now you be the judge is their justification good enough? Would you feel that you could still trust these people who is suppose to be on our side? I have now gotton over it and look fwd to contine the job of protecting the manatee and the biodiversity of the area. On a brighter note we have been doing lots of positive things. Yesterday I was out and I saw at least four manatees alive and swimmming around . I will fill you all in on our activities during our next newsletter which will be very soon. For now this is the voice in the South Wil maheia, BCES. My apologies for my English. Wil

rom: pgwil@btl.net Subject: Learning Together! A Toledo Update To: tide@btl.net Date: Mon, 2 Feb 1998 12:14:58 -0500 Subject: Learning Together! A Toledo Update To: tide@btl.net Greetings from Toledo! This is an informal update about things happening in Toledo, Belize. If you prefer not to receive this update let me know and I will take you off the list. If you know others who are interested in Toledo feel free to fwd it to them. The Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE), a grass roots organization, has promised the Government of Belize that they will finish the management plans for the proposed Port of Honduras Marine Protected area and Paynes Creek National Park. The Port of Honduras is all that body of water that stretches from Monkey River in the North to the Snake Cayes in the East and Rio Grande in the South. This area is just outside of Punta Gorda Town and has over 100 cayes. (These plans were to be done by the Belize Center for Environmental Studies (BCES) but when they closed doors in Toledo the GOB asked if TIDE could finish the plans). The Port of Honduras is heavily used by Toledo fishermen and by fishermen from across the borders, who fish illegally. When the word got around that the area is a major spawning ground and nursery for many of the reef fishes and should be put into protected area status, many of the fishermen were at times angry and felt like once again environmentalist were trying to lock up prime areas for tourists to see. We had several community and town meetings and although we explained that only a small portion of the area would be locked up they did not believe and felt like we were trying to trick them. We told them that the wilderness zone would probably be only one caye which is less than one percent of the area, but thet were still skeptical. These discussions have been going on for more than a year now and still many people are skeptical, but we want to make sure that the fishermen are happy with the plan before we submit it to government for review. As a native of this area I totally understand their fear. After all this would be the first marine reserve with a plan in this area. After several discussions we all agreed that the best thing to do is to visit an existing reserve and that way we could see first hand, the benefits. We passed the word around and before you know it, more than we could handle, fishermen came in and wanted to go visit the reserve. They were so curious about this reserve that many of them volunteered to use their own boats. With that we started the planning. We planned to visit not one but several of the reserves along the Belizean coastline, from the South to the North all the way up to Hol Chan in San Pedro Ambergris Caye. The Journey begun on Tuesday, January 27th. The fishermen volunteered their boats,two twenty five footers and one twenty three footer open boat. The night before,16 of us confirmed that we were going to be apart of this once in a lifetime adventure. By the time we got underway the following morning we had 24 men. Earlier, it was decided that since we will be going outside the reef system and will be exposed to high seas in these small boats it would be best if we gave a short lesson on navigation. Shortly after we left Punta Gorda Town we pulled into Punta Negra community to pick up a few fishermen. This was our last stop before we hit the high roolers outside the reef. Two of the college boys on board got out their maps and with compass in hand begun what I called navigtion 101. I was amazed to see the fishermen paying such keen attention as the guys explained how to use a compass and navigate using a chart. It was silent and the instructors seemed to be getting the message across. I was impressed! About twenty minutes later the lesson ended, one instructor patted the other and said good job partner. All the captains returned to their helms and decided that Eloy the Monkey River fisherman will be in the lead boat. As we pulled out, the sea was becoming choppy, choppy I looked at Eloy and saw him put the compass in his bucket and off we went. Before long I realized that none of the captains were looking at their compass. I kept wondering what was wrong. As we steamed through a cut in the reef the waves were pounding these small boats, every minute with no land in sight the waves seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. I keep looking back and still none of the captains were looking at their compass. By this time everyone on board was wet from head to toe. As we continued to take a pounding I keep asking, God why does the punishment has to be so harsh? Just as I was about to ask the captain how much further before we could at least see land I saw one of the guys in the bow of the boat raised his fist and turned around with a big smile. Finally land was in sight. Every one begun to smile and then the conversations begun again. I stood up and softly asked the captain did you look at your compass? He politely said 'no, but if I did follow that thing we would not have been here yet and maybe would have never gotton here'. Some of those areas were really shallow and if we ran into trouble the waves would have really had us. He said that the compass was probably good but if you do not have to be on the sea with it. Out here he said "Wil you can't depend on compass you can only depend on good eyesight and basic instinct". I looked at him and said thanks for the lesson from real life university and most of all thanks for getting us here. We finally arrived at Glovers Reef Marine Reserve where we were greeted by the resident scientist Belizean Dr. Charles Acosta. He welcomed us and said he did not think we would have made it in this weather. After a break and some delicious food they prepared for us we sat down with the doctor himself and he told us everything about the reserve, the positives and negatives, all the fishermen were firing question left and right but by the end of the night I could have felt a sense of relief among our fishermen. I am sure the doc had changed some of their mines. The following morning we toured the area, looked at and discussed the zones in a reserve and by mid afternoon we were on our way to the great Blue Hole and Light House reef Marine Reserve. But before we departed the compass popped out again and once again the college boys were doing their thing and again shortly after take off compass went into buckets and pockets and the captains went back to their way of doing things,good eyesight and basic instinct. Even though I lived and worked among these guys all my life they continue to amaze me and teach me new things. The seas were not as rough and within a few hours Light House reef was in sight. We steamed into Half Moon caye where we were met by the staff of the Belize Adubon Society. After settling in we had another discussion but this time with both Belize Adubon staff and fisheries staff namely Chief Marine Conservation Officer James Azueta and Alfonso Avilez. This discussion was hot, voices were loud and clear as the fishermen expressed their concerns to the fisheries officers. The fisheries officers were patient and allowed the guys to voice their concerns. When they finished the Fisheries officers addressed their concerns and begun to explain and clarified point by point the benefits of a reserve. By the end of the night I was feeling better and better about this trip. I could hear the guys talking, I felt the change in attitude. The following morning we packed bags, got a good look at the red footed boobies and off we were for a snorkel in this Great Blue Hole. After snorkeling the Blue Hole, we headed to Turneffe Island and visited a top of the line Flyfishig lodge called Turneffe Flats. We were welcomed by Doug and Nancy the managers who I must say were very nice to us. They shared their knowledge and told us about the economic benefits that could come out of a reserve, they showed us their lodge and explained the flyfishing business briefly and how they got their clients. We were all impressed. Our guys bragged about the size of our Permit fish compared to theirs and invited Nancy and Doug to come down and see our area. After the brief stop at Turneffe we boarded our boats and headed to the last stop of the tour Hol Chan Marine Reserve, but by the time we could get there the weather got bad and we pulled into Caye Caulker where we were met by my friend Tina Auxillou. This is the first time I met Tina in person even though I have known her for years now because of computer technology, and yes she is as beautiful as the pictures in the papers and the ones on the screen. Tina had made life easy by finding nice places for us to stay. Everyone settled in and the night was free to roam around the island which was a lesson by itself for our guys. Caye Caulker is a tourist island and I believed our guys picked up a lot of tourism tips. The following morning the seas had calmed and we headed to our final destination Hol Chan Marine Reserve. The staff met us there and again they explained the history of their reserve. Hol Chan has been in existense for a number of years and is totally self sufficient and is a matter of fact is generating money for the Government. The guys threw out some statistics and every one was impressed with the figures. The benefits of a reserve is without a doubt a win win situation. With a marine reserve everyone and the environment wins. Because this reserve has had a chance to really get establish it is easy to see the results. As you snorkel and see the abundance of marine life no more explanation is needed we were all convinced that the time is now for the Port Honduras marine reserve to be established. At one point Mr. Azueta asked, are you all ready for a reserve now the whole crowd answered Yes. One thing that was very noticable was that all the reserves were managed by Belizeans and the guys kept on saying we could do this too. After the visit we fueled up and headed home. It was a perfect day to travel the sea was swimming pool calm and the water crystal clear. The conversations were great everyone were talking about "no-take zones and traditional fishing zones etc, and what kind of zone it will be. By this time I was convinced that the money spent on this trip was properly used. We spot down the lenght of the Barrier Reef riding on the inside and by sundown we were all home. I had taken many trips before but without a doubt this ranks among one of the best trips ever. I would like to thank a few people for helping to make this trip a success. They are: The guys who volounteered their boats, Skully, Wayne and Eloy, USAID and TNC/Proarca /Costas, Turneffe Flat Lodge, Dolphin Bay Travel (TINA), Fisheries, Belize Adubon, Dr. Costas and the Glovers Reef cook.

From the South this is pgwil. apologies for the english Have a wonderful week everyone because last week I had mine.