Abstract

Belizean fishers have historically been involved in traditional fishing; however, due to decreasing fish-stocks, many are now involved in the farming of Eucheuma isiforme and Gracilaria spp. While the fisheries statistics for 2014 - 2015 shows similar production levels to previous years, the number of fishers have increased year over year. The number of fishers increased from 1,300 in 2004 to just over 3,000 in 2013 (B. Wade, Administrator, Belize Fisheries Department, Pers. comm.). Therefore, it requires twice as many fishers to catch the same quantity of marine products, which also means that fishers catch only half what they would normally catch. This figure does not account for Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing which further contributes to the depletion of fish stocks. In many instances in southern Belize, fishing is poor to the extent that the catch is only sufficient to cover fuel and other direct expenses. In order to take home a profit, many fishers harvest E. isiforme from Glovers Reef, dry it and sell it on the local market. For some fishers of the Placencia Producers Cooperative Society Limited (PPCSL) in Placencia Village, it became the norm to harvest seaweed to supple-ment their income. However, the fishers realized that the wild harvesting of seaweed was unsustainable and would result in the depletion of the wild stocks. It was the fishers themselves who sought sustainability of the ever-developing seaweed industry through seaweed cultivation. While they have received financial and technical support to develop the industry, there have also been setbacks.

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