The coastal waters were used extensively for fishing by the Mayans between 300 B.C. and 900 A.D. Since early this century, the economic role of the reef has increased steadily with the growth of the coastal population. Initially, its importancelay in the fishing industry, with a wide variety of species being harvested ranging from turtles, sharks and finfish, to sponges and seaweeds. Today, lobster and conch are the principal fisheries products, and contribute most of the total value of exported seafood, estimated at over US$10 million in 1995. There is also a domestic fishery for shallow reef fish and a commercial fishery for groupers Epinephelus spp. and snappers Lutjanus spp. However, the main use of the Belize Barrier Reef is now tourism, which is the country's largest source of foreign exchange generating an estimated US$75 million in 1994; hundreds of divers visit the reef each year to experience its delights.
Threats to the Reef System
Belize may be one of the last countries in the world to have extensive areas of almost pristine reef but it is also subject to the many threats that are of global concern and which have already seriously degraded an estimated 10% of the earth's coral reefs and currently threaten a much greater percentage. Greatest damage comes from sedimentation, agrochemical run-off, coastal development, tourism and overfishing. Until recently, the main impacts on the Belize Barrier Reef were from natural events such as hurricanes. However, pressures are mounting from a whole range of impacts including escalating residential and hotel development on numerous cayes, the citrus and banana industries which are causing increasing fertilizer run-off, growing numbers of shipping and recreational vessels in the reef-strewn shallow waters, and a steady increase in divers and snorkelers Hol Chan Marine Reserve alone now receives over 30,000 visitors a year.
Status of Belize Coral Reef
Coral reefs have not yet been used among the primary criteria for listing wetland sites under the Ramsar Convention, although the definition of a wetland allows for their inclusion. Of the 11 Contracting Parties to Ramsar in the Neotropics that have coral reefs, only 3 have listed sites that include these habitats (the Grand Cul de Sac Marin in Guadeloupe, Klein Bonaire Island and adjacent waters in the Netherlands Antilles, and North, Middle and East Caicos Islands in the Turks and Caicos) and in all cases the main interest in these wetlands has been other habitats and waterfowl. Belize is finalizing the process for joining Ramsar and, in the first instance, will be nominating an inland wetland site. However, several parts of the Belize Barrier Reef would qualify for nomination.
A system of marine and coastal protected areas is being set up as part of the Coastal Zone Management Plan that is being prepared for the country. So far there are three protected areas that include reefs: Half Moon Caye Natural Monument on Lighthouse Reef, Hol Chan Marine Reserve on the Barrier Reef, and Glovers Reef Marine Reserve. A number of other areas are likely to be designated as marine reserves or national parks soon, and many of these will be large areas incorporating a range of wetland habitats including the central section of the Barrier Reef, extensive lagoon and saltmarsh areas as well as vast expanses of estuaries, mangroves and fringing reefs.