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Courtney Menzies has an in-depth look at why fish is hard to find these days. Here is part one of that story.

Courtney Menzies, Journalist
"This is a hawksbill turtle. It's a protected species in Belize, but someone took this creature out of the sea and slaughtered it. The meat and shell were found at a fishing camp, and those handling it were promptly detained. But while those responsible will be facing criminal charges, it's one less endangered turtle in the sea - which is an unrecoverable loss. It's actions like this that has Belize's marine resources under stress and threat."

And this stress on the reef is being felt by the long-time fishers. The lobster season opened on July 1st, but the fisherfolk we spoke with said that they are catching thousands of pounds less than they used to.

Mark Heusner, Fisherman For 65 Years
"I started to set traps in that area coming right down here. But I used to produce plenty more than what I'm producing now. I used to be a member of Northern and I used to be the one who used to bring in the most lobster for years. I have about four or five trophies at home where every year, I used to be the top scorer. The most I ever produce in lobster tail there was 15,000 pounds for the season, lobster tails."

"I used to catch fish, me and this same guy behind here. We had beach traps. When you see those jacks and black snappers and red snapper. We used to fill the whole boat with fish, we go with the net, and [it gets] full. Sometimes we bring in 1,000 pounds, 2,000 pounds, these nice red snappers, black snappers, jacks, but now it's not like that."

Ambrosio Hernandez, Fisherman For 30 Years
"First we used to do a lot of fish but since it deplete, that's not really paying the bills so good so we based our income mostly on lobster so we are kind of phasing out of the fishing industry, we only catch that sometimes, off season and so, but mainly we focus on lobster production."

"We used to jump those channel edge and our aim was like, if three or four of us were in the water, we would go for like fifty pounds of fish, and like 1 or 2 o'clock we would already have like 200 pounds. But now, you could swim all day and probably be the end of the day, if you get 100 pounds of fish, you'd be lucky."

Courtney Menzies:
"How many pounds would you say you used to bring in back when you first started?"

Sotero Verde, Fisherman For 52 Years
"Like over a hundred pounds everyday, but not [all] day, by half day I'm gone. I catch 120, 100, 140, 150 pounds for the midday. But right now, whole day, sometimes we only catch like 30 tail for the whole day."

"Years back there was plenty more lobster because those times there was a little fisherman we had so that's why there was product. But right now, it has slowed down a lot."

Courtney Menzies:
"And you think that's because there's too many fishermen?"

Sotero Verde, Fisherman For 52 Years
"Well, I think so because we have more that we may have than years back, plenty more fishermen we have."

And this phenomenon of increased fishers has been noted by the Fisheries Department.

Hampton Gamboa, Supervisor, Fisheries Department
"Over the past decade it has risen. Um, if you're going to look at 10 year span, compared to probably somewhere about 2013, it has increased a bit. A lot of that has to do with, of course, we all know for the said main reason, the labor force of Belize has increased during this time."

And the increase in fishers is what Healthy Reefs For Health People Initiative's director Melanie McField believes led to a documented decline in fish. In their 2022 Mesoamerican Reef report card, they reported that 39% of Belize's reef was in a critical state because of a 50% reduction in both commercial and herbivorous fish biomass.

But what is causing the critical state of the reef? McField says it's due to overfishing.

Melanie McField, Director, HRI
"But between 2018 and 2021, which was the next time that we assessed due to covid, we skipped 2020. So there was a three year period and in that three year period there was a 60% decline in grouper and snapper, and there was a 50% decline in the parrot fish and tangs. Those are protected, so they shouldn't have declined. And then, you know, the key commercial fish, snappers and groupers, you know, the main reason for such a decline is just that we caught them. We took them. It's not all illegal fishing. It's just fishing."

But though the general consensus is that there are more fishers, which leads to fewer fish, one independent biodiversity scientist says the blame shouldn't be put on just the fishers.

Valentine Rosado, Biodiversity Scientist
"It's very complex, but even to an extent, even the fishers are kinda led into, you know, using all of these challenges and then just channeling it back to themselves. Yes, I don't see lobster. It's harder to catch lobster. It's harder to, um, to catch conch and then they self-blame the fishers, is because we have no more fish and I think it's a lot more complex than that. Maybe it is the case, but there's a lot more happening with the health of the reef than just the fishers."

"Mangrove clearing, runoffs, sedimentation, you know, everything that we do on land is affecting the health of the reefs. If it affects the health of the reef, it also affects the, the fish stock."

"Since I began my career, we go in consultations, we work with, um, international funders with government at different levels, and it's always overfishing, overfishing. And maybe back then it was, um, and I believe right now what we have been seeing over there, there's so many other threats that are affecting the health of the reef. If they affect the health of the reef, then they also affect the fish biomass. But everything when it comes to fishing is directly on the fishers, right. Uh, enforcement is a problem. We have great policies, but enforcement is a problem."

And part two will be looking closer at the enforcement of the Fisheries Department.

This story was produced with support from Internews' Earth Journalism Network.