One day in December, the residents of the seaside village of
Punta Gorda in Belize looked out to the horizon and saw
something unexpected: Jamaican fishing boats. They had arrived,
unannounced and without permits, to fish in Belize’s diverse
waters. Many of Punta Gorda’s local fishermen still work the
shallow waters inside the Belize Barrier Reef from individual
canoes using age-old methods to provide lobster, shellfish and
reef fish for Belizeans, as well as a small but thriving export
business. The Jamaican boats, with more sophisticated commercial
gear, offered no such promise for the local economy or the
continued sustainability of Belize’s fisheries. A few
unpermitted Jamaican fishing boats may seem like a local hurly-
burly, and after an uproar the boats were turned away by
Belizean authorities. But Oceana has discovered that the fight
to protect Belize’s waters from exploitation has just begun.
Other countries with larger fleets, namely Chinese Taipei and
Spain – Europe’s largest and most aggressive fis