Every year as many as ten thousand people visit the Half Moon Caye
and Blue Hole Natural Monuments. Both sites are co-managed by the Belize Audubon
Society which is why two years ago they commissioned a public resource and use
plan for half moon and the blue hole. That plan has been compiled and today
it was launched. The Audubon’s Advocacy Programme Manager Amanda Acosta
told us what’s in the plan.
Amanda Acosta, Advocacy Programme Manager
“What ended up looking at is in regards to diving, some basic guidelines
for activities when we looked at kayaking; where kayaking should be occurring,
where are some of the better sites, nice calmer sites for kayaking. And in regards
to the island, we talk about basic rules for how to proceed on the island. The
plan looks at making the experience better in terms of picnic tables, we now
have compost toilets out there and so what we need for the usage to sustain
the activities and how to improve the experience.”
Keith Swift,
“Was the volume of visitors a concern?”
Amanda Acosta,
“Intialy one of our interests was to do a limits of acceptable change
which was performed by a graduate student from Costa Rica and what we have come
up with is pretty much what we have in terms of visitation is sustainable but
we do need to look at management of their activities where they are putting
these footprints as we tend to call them.”
The report was today presented to the Forestry Department.
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