Dredging Policies Are Failing Belize’s Marine Reserves

Posted: Friday, November 7, 2025. 9:32 am CST.

By Turneffe Atoll Trust: Belize’s marine reserves were created to safeguard our most valuable ecosystems that sustain our blue economy. Our reefs, mangroves, and seagrass beds are supposed to be protected spaces, ensuring that fishing, tourism, and coastal protection remain strong for generations. But these irreplaceable habitats are being destroyed by dredging.

Dredging—the excavation of sand, mud, and seagrass from the seabed—has become a go-to tool for coastal development. Resorts want more beach and developers want more land. But the price is too steep if it smothers coral, uproots seagrass, destabilizes mangroves and destroys critical marine habitats, leaving scars that can last decades.

Laws on Paper, Loopholes in Practice

Belize is not without laws. The Fisheries Act of 2020 empowers the Minister of the Blue Economy to restrict dredging. The Mangrove Act of 2018 requires permits to clear mangroves. The Department of Environment (DOE) oversees Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), while the Geology and Petroleum Department issues dredging permits.

A dredger excavating the sea floor to deposit the sediment to expand nearby landmass

On paper, this looks strong. In practice, it is fragmented and ineffective. Developers often secure approvals despite clear risks. Some begin dredging before an Environmental Compliance Plan is complete; others ignore conditions once permits are granted. More importantly, dredging permits are issued through the proper channels without the impacts of dredging being adequately considered. The result is that habitats essential to the nation’s future are being damaged or destroyed. This process has played out in marine reserves throughout the country – including South Water Caye, Hol Chan and the Turneffe Atoll Marine Reserve.

Making this more concerning, proposed changes to the Environmental Impact Assessment process would remove the requirement for an Environmental Impact Assessment in the nation’s most valuable marine areas –Marine Protected Areas and our World Heritage Site.

Dredging’s Footprint in Belize

The evidence is already visible:

• Angelfish Caye / Will Bauer Flat: Large-scale dredging was altering the flats, which was only mitigated following the interventions of Eworth Garbutt and community stakeholders in the area.
• Turneffe Atoll Belize Dive Haven: Dredging by Belize Dive Haven has had major harmful impacts to Big Flat on Turneffe Atoll, destroying a large portion of this critical backreef flat, harming the fringe reef and causing extensive beach corrosion.
• Ambergris Caye: Years of dredging to expand waterfront properties have destroyed seagrass meadows and damaged reefs. Local guides warn that the same habitats attracting tourists are being sacrificed for short-term gain.
• Placencia Lagoon: Large-scale dredging has alarmed fishers and conservationists. The lagoon’s mangroves and seagrass, nurseries for lobster and conch, are being eroded.

Dredging at Belize Dive Haven destroyed a large portion of Turneffe Atoll’s backreef flat and caused extensive beach corrosion

Why Dredging Undermines Reserves

Science is clear. Dredging releases sediment that blocks sunlight and suffocates corals. Corals exposed to sediment face higher mortality and slower recovery. Seagrass beds—nurseries for finfish, lobster, and conch—are uprooted and may never return. Mangroves die when their roots are buried or water flow is disrupted

These losses strike at the heart of Belize’s economy. The flats fishery alone generates nearly BZ$250 million annually, while reef-based tourism adds hundreds of millions more. Destroying habitats for developers gain undermines the very economic advantages that reserves were created to protect.

The Co-management Gap

The Turneffe Atoll Marine Reserve illustrates the problem. While this marine reserve is Co-managed by the Turneffe Atoll Sustainability Association (TASA) and Fisheries, TASA has no ability to prevent destruction of the Marine Reserve’s critical habitats. Developers often exploit this system and the inability of Marine Reserves to halt damaging destructive projects.

Even small dredging projects add up. Each plume of sediment, each patch of seagrass uprooted, cumulatively weakens the ecosystems that keep reserves alive.

What Needs to Change

Belize’s blue economy cannot thrive if reserves are undermined by weak policies. To close the gaps:

• Ban mechanical dredging in and near marine reserves. Protection must mean protection.
• Ban dredging of essential flats fishing areas. These are too valuable to be destroyed.
• Strengthen the EIA process: No dredging should start without a thorough, transparent review, with real penalties for violators.

1. Maintain mandatory EIAs: Ensure that all development with Marine Reserves requires a full environmental impact assessment. Current recommendations are to remove this requirement.

• Empower Marine Reserve Co-managers. Co-managers like TASA must have the authority to protect essential habitats and stop destructive activities such as dredging.
• Increase transparency. Permit applications should be public allowing Co-managers and stakeholders an opportunity to fully respond..

A Question of Priorities

Dredging exchanges short-term private gain for long-term public loss. A few benefit from expanded beaches and filled land, but the cost is borne by thousands of Belizeans whose livelihoods depend on healthy reefs and fisheries.

Marine reserves should be the strongest line of defense for our natural heritage. Instead, dredging is destroying them and they have no ability to stop it . We face a choice: strengthen protections of critical habitats now, or watch our “protected” areas erode into empty promises.

Belize has led before—banning offshore oil, creating the Blue Bond, and banning gillnets. The next test is here. If we are serious about protecting our marine reserves, dredging must be brought under strict, enforceable control.

And Belizeans must demand it.

We cannot afford to sit back while reserves are chipped away for private profit. Communities, fishers, tour guides, and citizens alike must raise their voices. Because in the end, what is at stake is not only our reefs and mangroves, but the very foundation of our economy, culture, and coastal future.

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The post Dredging Policies Are Failing Belize’s Marine Reserves appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.

Posted: Friday, November 7, 2025. 9:32 am CST. By Turneffe Atoll Trust: Belize’s marine reserves were created to safeguard our most valuable ecosystems that sustain our
The post Dredging Policies Are Failing Belize’s Marine Reserves appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.