Paul Hoetjes, Netherlands
“Basically that is all what this whole Inter-American Sea Turtle Convention is all about, trying to protect the remaining sea turtles so that we will have them for our children. The Hawksbill Turtle is critically endangered, that means it has been reduced in numbers more than 90% over the last say 50 years and there is real cause for concern that they could actually go extinct if we don’t do something.”

Veronica Caceres, Secretary
“We need to work on regional cooperation to be able to better protect them. Conservation measures that we only in one country or two countries won’t cover the whole wide range of the migratory path so what happens is it is not enough to only protect them in one place, we have to think of a regional approach to protect this migratory species so we could actually be effective in protecting them.”

Jules Vasquez,
“You can’t foresee the future but will our children see or know these magnificent animals in their natural wild environment?”

Paul Hoetjes,
“There is a good chance they will because we are actually seeing progress and in some places the numbers are increasing so there is a lot of hope.”

The Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles is an intergovernmental treaty which provides the legal framework for countries in the American Continent to take actions that benefit sea turtles. Belize has been a part since 2003.

Extensive coral bleaching occurred on the reef  near Ambergris Caye in 2009.  Species affected include boulder coral, lettuce leaf, finger coral, shallow water starlet and brain.  The vast majority of damaged coral has recovered.  Agaricia and Porites porites showed permanently dead areas.  Some regions showed a high mortality of about 10% in Montastrea annularis. There appears to be a species shift underway that was much more obvious during the bleaching event.  Montastres faviolata appears to be replacing M. annularis due to its resistance to increased temp.  No colonies of M. faviolata were found to be bleached although they were beside M. annularis.  

What happens when wild American crocodiles are illegally fed for entertainment? They begin to associate man with food and will approach anyone who looks like they are offering a meal. Case in point, a couple weeks ago this young man lured a huge croc in from the WASA lagoon south of San Pedro with nothing more than a rock tied onto a rope. It all took place just yards from a large sign that was recently posted by the Belize Forest Department warning against the act, stating “Under Chapter 220 of the Laws of Belize Wildlife Protection Act, molesting (feeding) wildlife is punishable by a $1,000 fine and/or six months in prison.”

Days later a photo of a large croc taken in the same area was posted on the Ambergriscaye.com message board. The croc was consuming a large bag of garbage that was illegally dumped in the area. The bag was reportedly full of tin cans and other indigestible trash. Again, the animal demonstrated an appetite for food originating from man.

In both scenarios this behavior is unhealthy and may even be lethal to the animal, while feeding crocs is a dangerous and illegal practice. The public is reminded again that it is illegal to molest or feed wildlife and dumping trash in the area is illegal as well.

LATEST NEWS »

The research team, led by University of Illinois archeologist Lisa Lucero, will be the first to dive  the pools of the southern Maya lowlands.

Photo by
L. Brian Stauffer

 

 

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – A team of expert divers, a geochemist and an archaeologist will be the first to explore the sacred pools of the southern Maya lowlands in rural Belize. The expedition, made possible with a grant from the National Geographic Society and led by a University of Illinois archaeologist, will investigate the cultural significance and environmental history and condition of three of the 23 pools of Cara Blanca, in central Belize.

Pool 16, the third of three pools the researchers will explore. | Photo by Lisa J. Lucero

Called cenotes (sen-OH-tays), these groundwater-filled sinkholes in the limestone bedrock were treated as sacred sites by the Maya, said University of Illinois archaeologist Lisa Lucero, who will lead the expedition next spring.

“Any openings in the earth were considered portals to the underworld, into which the ancient Maya left offerings,” said Lucero, who is a professor of anthropology at Illinois. “We know from ethnographic accounts that Maya collected sacred water from these sacred places, mostly from caves.” Studies of shallow lakes and cenotes in Mexico and Guatemala have found that the Maya also left elaborate offerings in the sacred lakes and pools. Items found on the bottom of lakes in these regions include masks, bells, jade, human remains, figurines and ceramic vessels decorated with animals, plants and the gods of fertility and death.

“Diving the sacred pools of Cara Blanca, in central Belize, is necessary to determine if they have similar sacred qualities,” Lucero said.

Patricia Beddows, a lecturer of earth and planetary sciences at Northwestern University and an expert diver who has explored cenotes on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, will also explore the geochemistry and hydrology of the pools of central Belize.

“Once underwater, we will first have to cut out some of the jungle wood so that we can even reach the bottom,” Beddows said. “After mapping for fragile Maya artifacts, we will also take water data and manually drill sediment cores.”

The sediment samples will provide a record of changes in surface and water conditions, Beddows said.

“Were the Maya challenged by droughts in the area? Did the water quality suddenly go bad due to sulfur or other geologic factors? We hope these cenotes will provide a rich story of linked human and environmental conditions,” she said.

The cenotes vary in depth from 5 to more than 50 meters, Lucero said. The extraordinary depth of some of the pools, their sheer walls, the probable presence of underwater caves that may lead to other pools and the potential for encountering wildlife (a crocodile was spotted in one of the cenotes the team will explore) all add to the complexity and danger of the task, she said. But the team will include some of the most accomplished technical divers in the world and will be in radio contact with British special forces, who train in the region, to coordinate a medical evacuation in the event of a health emergency.

The divers will videotape and map the pools and any artifacts they find.

One of the three pools the researchers will explore has a substantial Maya structure on its edge, likely ceremonial. Preliminary investigations of the structure conducted by archaeologist Andrew Kinkella, of Moorpark College, turned up a lot of jars and the fragments of jars. This could indicate that the site was important for collecting sacred water, Lucero said. She plans to conduct a limited analysis of the structure while the divers explore the pools. Kinkella will join Lucero’s team, and will search the sheer walls of the cenotes for niches, like those carved by the Maya in other pools, where artifacts were deposited.

Lucero has spent more than 20 years studying settlements and sacred sites that were important to the Maya in Belize, and works under the auspices of the Institute of Archeology, which is part of the National Institute of Culture and History, Government of Belize.