GLADDEN SPIT & SILK CAYES

LAUGHING BIRD CAYE
SAPODILLO CAYES

PLACENCIA LAGOON

ENFORCEMENT

SEA Belize protects three wonderful Marine Parks and keeps a researching eye on the Placencia Lagoon. Our Rangers are also our Ambassadors for Tourism. Besides monitoring attendance and collecting admission tickets, they are responsible for making sure that all visitors to the Reserves have a safe and ecologically-sound experience, working closely with the tour guides to ensure that everyone follows the guidelines and ultimately has a great time.

Good management, however, requires feedback, and SEA has a broad array of routine monitoring protocols of all the ecosystems of the Marine Protected Areasfrom Placencia to Punta Gorda, with responsibility for managing the Sapodillo Cayes Marine Reserve, Laughing Bird Caye National Park and Gladden Spit Marine Reserve, in place already. SEA Belize is managing, processing, and evaluating its own management effectiveness with WWF-sponsored tools, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping. These tools help to assure the future of our protected areas for generations following us.

SEA has made considerable strides in developing its conservation infrastructure, including:

Trained and Equipped Rangers to Monitor Protected Areas: Rangers man a fleet of SEA boats to carry out their enforcement duties. Most of our rangers are trained as Belize Fisheries Officers and are all PADI-certified. Often they dive with the biologists to help them count fish, lobster, conch, or coral. They also assist with installation of moorings and other buoys. Outfitted with the basic gear required to do the job - radios, dive gear, and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) units - their reassuring presence is felt as soon as visitors venture inside their zone of protection.

Ranger Station and Research Center: As a base for its operations on the world-renowned Belize Barrier Reef, a designated World Heritage Site, SEA Belize acquired a majority ownership in Little Water Caye, a small caye strategically close to both Reserves. SEA constructed a solid and beautiful ranger station, educational facility, tourist facilities, and a 300-foot pier.