1 month ago
6
Sargassum continues to impact Belize’s tourism-dependent communities, prompting the Ministry of Blue Economy to ramp up efforts to combat the problem. Minister Andre Perez told Love News that his ministry is actively on the ground working with local partners to monitor and mitigate the effects of the seaweed influx.
Abner “Andre” Perez, Belize Rural South Area Representative: “We’re not new to this. This is always a battle, a losing battle if I may say that. But obviously all of us have to put our hands to deal with this sargassum right now. And of course we mentioned as well all the local governments and also at the national level we are addressing this by putting in finance to fight it. Funding is part that the government is doing. We have allocated $1.2 million dollars to be distributed to the municipalities. And also we have two harvesters that the Hol Chan Marine Reserve has acquired and these two have proven that it can work. We have already prepared what is the cost benefit analysis of it. It has been done and showing that it can work. So from all angles, we’re talking about arresting the sargassum onshore by manpower and as well we’re going to be using the harvesters, which we’re already doing. We’re just doing some adjustments, but to prove to everyone that this sargassum, the harvester can really work. And of course we have gotten the resources to get two mini pontoons to be right next to these harvesters so that to save time. So right now we’re just fine-tuning the efficiency of these harvesters. Well, the action plan, of course, we had several meetings of the Sargassum Task Force and of course the Blue Economy, the Ministry of the Blue Economy and Marine Conservation has been tasked to lead that. So that action plan is that we got to send some funds, most important to the municipalities which is San Pedro Caye Caulker and Hopkins, we’re talking in Dangriga and Placencia. These are the key places that will be receiving these funds to assist. I’m not too sure the figures that were discussed there but certainly that. And of course, I mentioned again the harvesters and also we are looking, we must start to look not only about dealing with the situation in the moment, we have to have a long-term plan. And we got to look at how we can dispose of this sargassum, what can we do with it? And of course, we may not have the answers immediately, we’re looking for these answers, looking around for different places who are having ideas and that is part of the Sargasso Task Force.”
Tourism Hotspot destinations like San Pedro are taking one of the greater hits. Our Island Correspondent Jorge Aldana spoke with a local stakeholder who says that tourists are now inquiring about sargassum conditions before making their bookings.
Melanie Perez, Chairperson, BTIA SP Branch: “One of the major concerns is that because of it affecting the whole Caribbean region, of course people are informed that there is sargassum out there. So when people are booking hotels, they actually want, that is one of the main questions that they ask, is there sargassum on the beach? And of course we can’t lie. Plus the fact that our social media in Belize really promotes everything wrong that’s happening has a big effect on what people know about what’s happening here. So it is one of the questions that tourists ask when they want to book if there’s a lot of sargassum on the beaches. In the past couple years, not as much as this year. Of course, this year has been, we have a significant amount, much more than any other year that I can recall and BTIA National does sit on the National Sargassum Task Force. The problem is that I think we need to have a more proactive action when it comes to sargassum. We know it’s coming, but we always wait until it’s here to figure out what we’re going to do about it. In all reality, this problem is not easily resolved by authorities. It’s a mother nature thing that we don’t have any control over so it’s really hard for us to demand or ask local authorities for anything. I know in the past years the BTB gave the hoteliers a break in hotel tax to help alleviate the cost of cleaning up the sargassum. But this year in particular and what I’m hearing from my membership out here and the stakeholders they’ve already spent tens of thousands of dollars in manual labor and to clean up the sargassum in front of their resorts. And it seems like it’s a never-ending problem where there is no immediate solution to it.”
In an interview with the Prime Minister some weeks ago he explained that the government would begin looking at Sargassum becoming a National Emergency.
English (US) ·