A marine multibeam - it may sound like some science fiction device, but it's actually a real tool that's going to be used to conduct what's called a "sea seep" survey in the marine territory of Belize east of the barrier reef and in the Exclusive Economic Zone, excluding all marine protected areas. A release says the survey will be done "in deep water only and away from any major tourist activity, fishing areas or spawning sites."
It's part of a larger regional geophysical survey currently being done by the United States Government and the Mexican Government in the US Gulf of Mexico, the Mexican Gulf of Mexico and east of the Yucatan Peninsula supposedly to gather new regional data to advance the knowledge of the geology and hydrocarbon systems of these geological provinces.
A multibeam survey is usually done to obtain water depth maps and seafloor maps of the world's oceans and harbors for navigation and scientific information.
The survey is done using an echo sounder similar to a fish-finder that maps the bottom of the sea floor. The survey will start in early October 2016 and is expected to take one month to complete. A release says all data acquired will be the property of the Government of Belize. We assume it will also be used by those who do the mapping, which is the US and Mexico.
And while it is pitched as bening and non-invasive information gathering, those in the conservation sector fear that no Environmental Impact Assessment has been done.
The Coalition to save our national heritage has written to the chief environmental officer asking for all relevant documents which suggest that the scane will have little or no environmental effects.
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