Watching Over the Whale Sharks of Belize

Monitoring Marine Protected Areas – Belize 2004

For decades, fishermen have congregated at Gladden Spit on the Belize Barrier Reef to harvest fish during the full moon in the spring. Whale sharks—enormous filter feeders—come to feed on the eggs that the spawning fish release into the water in large milky clouds. As a tourist industry grew up around the whale sharks, whale shark sightings plummeted.

The Baum Foundation provided a grant to the Friends of Nature and communications templates for the community to use in order to better communicate their new plans to start an eco-tourism business that was friendly to the environment that would create jobs for out of work fisherman. The grant also supported the development of a community monitoring protocol to evaluate the relationship of increased tourism and whale shark behavior and to help identify practices that will allow both to thrive.

This program gave the people of Belize the means to protect their precious natural resources while working with the tourism industry, which brings much-needed income to these areas. By working together, they will continue to develop a sustainable industry that will enrich the local communities for many generations to come.

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