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You are here: Home / Welcome to the World of Caribbean Sea Turtles! / The WIDECAST Network / Belize

Belize

CoordinatorsRegulationsPublicationsLearn More
Linda Searle
Director
ECOMAR
St. George’s Caye
P.O. Box 1234
Belize City, Belize
Tel: (501) 223-3022
Cell: (501) 671-3483
linda@ecomarbelize.org
Facebook page
Excerpted from:
Bräutigam, A. and K. L. Eckert. 2006. Turning the Tide: Exploitation, Trade and Management of Marine Turtles in the Lesser Antilles, Central America, Colombia and Venezuela. TRAFFIC International, Cambridge, UK.
Show more...
The first regulatory measures relating to marine turtles were the Fisheries Regulations of 1977, which prohibited:

• the export, or attempted export, of any turtle or articles made from any part of a turtle unless under a licence granted by the relevant minister;
• the take of turtles “found on the shores of Belize and adjacent cays thereof”;
• the setting or attempted setting of any net or seine or other instrument with the intent of taking turtles within 100 yards of the shores of Belize or of the adjacent cays;
• the take or possession of any turtle or turtle eggs during a closed season from 1 June to 31 August; and
• the take, purchase, sale or possession of turtles under the following weights:

Loggerhead: 30 lb (13 kg)
Green Turtle: 50 lb (23 kg)
Hawksbill Turtle: 50 lb (23 kg)

The Regulations further provided for:

• the issuance of a commercial fisher’s licence in order to take turtles; and
• the levying of a maximum fine of 500 Belize dollars (BZD500) for persons convicted of violating the regulations.

The Wildlife Protection Act of 1981 included in its list of protected species four marine turtle species—the Loggerhead, Green Turtle, Hawksbill Turtle and Leatherback—thus establishing a moratorium on the hunting, sale or any dealing for profit, and import or export without a permit of any of these animals or part thereof, including nests and eggs. However, because of a conflict with the Fisheries Regulations, these four species were deleted from the Act through Statutory Instrument No. 12 in January 1982 (Searle, 2001; Smith et al., 1992).

The Fisheries (Amendment) Regulations of 1993 substantially revised the restrictions on the take of marine turtles, by prohibiting:

• the take, sale, purchase or possession of Hawksbill Turtles at all times;
• the take, sale, purchase or possession of any marine turtle during a six-month closed season from 1 April to 31 October;
• the take of any turtle found on land or interference with any turtle nest;
• the disturbance, damage, take, sale, purchase or possession of any turtle egg;
• the setting or attempted setting of any net, seine or other instrument with the intent of taking turtles within 100 yards of the shores or adjacent cays of Belize.
• the take, sale, purchase or possession of any Green Turtle or Loggerhead greater than 60 cm (24 ins) curved carapace length (CCL); and
• the import, transit, or export of any turtle without a valid permit issued by the relevant minister.

In addition, the Regulations prohibited the purchase, sale or possession of any articles made of turtle shell.

Although possession of any articles held on the date of entry into force of the Regulations was allowed, those articles were prohibited from subsequent sale after 31 July 1993.
The most recent revision of the Regulations, the Fisheries (Amendment) Regulations (Statutory Instrument No. 66) of 2002, provides almost complete protection for the marine turtles of Belize. Designed to bring Belize in line with IAC, which Belize ratified in February 2003, these Regulations prohibit:

• fishing in the waters of Belize or the purchase, sale or possession of any marine turtle;
• the take of any turtle found on land; the disturbance, take, purchase, sale or possession of any turtle or turtle eggs; and the interference with any turtle nest, except under written permission by the Fisheries Administrator; and
• the import to, transit through, or export from Belize of any turtle or turtle products.

The Regulations also provide for:

• increased penalties for violations of the prohibitions set out in the law, namely a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars per turtle or part of a turtle, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or both the fine and imprisonment;
• prior issuance of a written permit from the Fisheries Administrator for the take or use of any marine turtle (other than Hawksbill Turtles, which are fully protected at all times) for traditional or cultural use. The permit must specify the “amount and specific purpose for such use”;
• the requirement that any shrimp trawler operating in the waters of Belize must be fitted with a pre-approved operational turtle excluder device (TED); and
• right to possession for personal use of any articles made of turtle shell held by anyone on the date of entry into force (1 June 2002) of the Regulations.

Bass, A. (1999) Genetic Analysis to Elucidate the Natural History and Behavior of Hawksbill Turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) in the Wider Caribbean: a Review and Re-Analysis, Chelonian Conservation and Biology, 1999, 3(2):195–199.

Belize country report (2006) Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles Second Conference of the Parties

Bowen et al (1996) Origin of Hawksbill Turtles in a Caribbean Feeding Area as Indicated by Genetic Markers, Ecological Applications, Vol. 6, No. 2, (May, 1996), pp. 566-572, Ecological Society of America.

Bräutigam, A. and Eckert, K.L. (2006). Turning the Tide: Exploitation, Trade and Management of Marine Turtles in the Lesser Antilles, Central America, Colombia and Venezuela. TRAFFIC International, Cambridge, UK.

Show more...
Campbell, C.L. 2007. May 2007 Field Report to the Belize Marine Program, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Prepared by the WCS Nicaragua Sea Turtle Conservation Program. Managua, Nicaragua. 9 pp. Unpubl.

Campbell, C.L. 2008. February 2008 Field Report to the Belize Marine Program, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Prepared by the WCS Nicaragua Sea Turtle Conservation Program. Managua, Nicaragua. 8 pp. Unpubl.

Campbell, C.L. 2008. In-water Surveys of Marine Turtles at Glover’s Reef Marine Reserve, April 2008. A Field Report to the Belize Marine Program, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Prepared by the WCS Nicaragua Sea Turtle Conservation Program. Managua, Nicaragua. 7 pp. Unpubl.

Campbell, C.L. 2008. In-water Surveys of Marine Turtles at Glover’s Reef Marine Reserve, July 2008. A Field Report to the Belize Marine Program, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Prepared by the WCS Nicaragua Sea Turtle Conservation Program. Managua, Nicaragua. 8 pp. Unpubl.

Coleman, R. 2009. In-water Surveys of Marine Turtles at Glover’s Reef Marine Reserve, November 2008. Wildlife Conservation Society, Belize City. 10 pp. Unpubl.

Coleman, R. 2009. In-water Surveys of Marine Turtles at Glover’s Reef Marine Reserve, April 2009. Wildlife Conservation Society, Belize City. 15 pp. Unpubl.

Gillett, V. 1987. National Report for Belize. Presented to the Second Western October 1987, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. WATS2 091. 41 pp. Unpublished.

Miller, W.G. 1984. National Report for Belize. Submitted 25 January 1984. Pp. 41–48 In: P. Bacon et al. (Eds). Proceedings of the Western Atlantic Turtle Symposium, 17–22 July 1983, San José, Costa Rica, III, Appendix 7. University of Miami Press, Florida.

Lindberg et al., (1996) Ecotourism Questioned: Case Studies from Belize. Annalr qf Tourism Research, Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 543-562.

Searle, L.A.W. 2001. A Brief History of Sea Turtle Communities, Conservation and Consumption in Belize. Paper presented at the 21st Annual International Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation, Philadelphia, USA, February 2001.

Searle, L.A.W. 2003. Diet of Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas) captured in the Robinson Point foraging ground, Belize. Pp. 228–299. In: Seminoff, J.A. (Compiler). Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-503. US Department of Commerce.

Smith, Gregory W., Karen. L. Eckert, and Janet P. Gibson. 1992. WIDECAST Sea Turtle Recovery Action Plan for Belize (Karen L. Eckert, Editor). CEP Technical Report No. 18 UNEP Caribbean Environment Programme, Kingston, Jamaica. 86 p.

Smith, G.W. 1990. Ground Surveying for Sea Turtle Nesting Sites in Belize, 1990. Report to the Belize Audubon Society, Belize Fisheries Department and US Fish and Wildlife Service (Region 2, Albuquerque). 24pp. Unpublished.

Sea Turtles of Belize
Hawksbills in Belize
Wildlife Conservation Society
Belize Tourism Website
Glover’s Reef Marine Reserve
Belize Turtle Watch Program

Click to open a larger map

Flag_of_Belizesmall

IMG_0574-R

2 - Belize - Nest monitoring training - (c) A Tilley

3 - Belize - Public Awareness - (c) R Coleman

IMG_0578-R

7 - Belize - Nest excavation - (c) Gales Pt Wildlife Trust

10 Désorientation pollution lumineuse (c) Sebastien-Barrioz

Loggerhead N, F
Green N, F
Leatherback I
Hawksbill N, F
Kemp’s Ridley A?
Olive Ridley I
N=Nesting
F=Foraging
IN=Infrequent Nesting
IF=Infrequent Foraging
I=Infrequent (further data unavailable)
A=Absent

Dow et al 2007b

Belize National Nesting Beach Atlas

Working together to realize a future where all inhabitants of the Wider Caribbean Region, human and sea turtle alike, can live together in balance.

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