Belize Barrier Reef : BELIZE
Belize Barrier Reef is a series of coral reels off the coast of Belize. Home to a one of the most important ecosystems in the world, the reef system has 70 hard coral species, 36 soft coral species, 500 species of fish and hundreds of invertebrate species. It extends for some 300 km, making it the second only to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. The Belize Barrier Reef is a series of coral reefs straddling the coast of Belize, roughly 300 meters (1,000 ft) offshore in the north and 40 kilometers (25 mi) in the south within the country limits. The Belize Barrier Reef is a 300 kilometers (186 mi) long section of the 900 kilometers (560 mi) long Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, which is continuous from Cancún on the northeast tip of the Yucatán Peninsula through the Riviera Maya up to offshore Guatemala, making it the second largest coral reef system in the world after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, popular for scuba diving and snorkeling. It is Belize's top tourist destination, attracting almost half of its 260,000 visitors, and vital to its fishing industry. Charles Darwin described it as "the most remarkable reef in the West Indies" in 1842. The Belize barrier reef has been affected by two massed bleaching. The first mass bleaching occurred in 1995, with an estimated partial mortality of 10 percent of coral colonies, according to a report by the Coastal Zone Management Institute in Belize. In 1997 and 1998, a second mass-bleaching event occurred, coinciding with devastation wrecked by hurricane Mitch. Biologists observed a 48 percent reduction in live coral cover in the Belize reef system.
Usually it is hard to decide whether the reason for coral bleaching is human activities, natural reasons eg. Storms or climate change. But in the case of the Belize barrier reef most of these factors don’t apply. Human population in this area is much less than in other coral reefs so the human pollution and fishing is much less compared to other coral reefs and the Belize is in a much more enclosed area. When corals do become bleached, they become half dead not alive but not dead in the process of repairing themselves. But the chances of recovery is low, when corals are bleached they become much more vulnerable to disease. Disease often kills more corals than the bleaching themselves. Continuous bleaching and the coral reef will have no chance of recovery. The Belize Barrier Reef platform lies on the Atlantic-Caribbean coast of Belize, and extends 260 kilometers (km) from the border with Mexico to the north, to near the Guatemalan border to the south. The nominated World Heritage Site includes the following areas: Bacalar Chico National Park and Marine Reserve (18°11'-18°04'N, 87°48'-87°55'W), which lies 37 km north of San Pedro Town, covering the northernmost part of Ambergris Caye, with its associated reef tract and, on the west, an area of the Chetumal Bay; Laughing Bird Caye National Park (16°25'-16°30'N, 88°09'-88°13'W), 17 km south-east of Placencia Village on the mainland coast; Half Moon Caye Natural Monument (17°14'-17°51'N, 87°29'- 87°34'W) which lies on the south-east edge of the Lighthouse Reef, the most easterly of Belize's atolls, 100 km east of Belize City, includes the entire caye and a substantial portion of the surrounding fringing reef and lagoon; Blue Hole Natural Monument (17°16'-87°32'W) which is located at the center of the Lighthouse Reef; Glover's Reef Marine Reserve (16°38'-16°55'N, 87°39'-87°53'W), which is the southernmost atoll in Belize, lying 45 km east off the mainland coast; South Water Caye Marine Reserve (16°38'-16°55'N, 88°02'-88°13'W), 14km from the mainland coast, the northern boundary being level with Dangriga Town; and Sapodilla Cays Marine Reserve (16°04'-16°11'N, 88°09'- 88°20'W), which covers the southernmost portion of the Barrier Reef, 75 km north-east of the Punta Gorda Town. The Belize Barrier Reef belongs to the Central American biogeographical province.
The Barrier Reef lies about half a mile off the winward side of the island. It is the longest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere and the second longest in the world. To the east of the Barrier Reef are three separate atoll reefs. There is also a fourth atoll reef, Banco Chinchorro, just to the north in Mexican waters, which will be of particular interest to wreck divers. The three Belize atoll reefs are formed on two tiers of submarine ridges: Turneffe and Glover's on one ridge and Lighthouse on a separate ridge farther to the east. This accounts for their similar outlines and NE-SW orientations. Deep marine trenches separate the two ridges. So Charles Darwin referred to the Belize Barrier Reef in 1842, in his study of the origin and evolution of coral reefs. Since then it has become renowned as the largest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere. Nearly 260km long, it runs from the northern border of the country, where it is only about 1km offshore, south to the Sapodilla Cayes which lie some 40km offshore. Belize also has one of the most diverse reef ecosystems in the world, with all the main types of reef represented: fringing reefs along the mainland coast; the Barrier Reef itself which grows along the edge of the continental shelf, separated from the mainland by the lagoon; and three offshore atolls (Lighthouse Reef, Turneffe Atoll and Glovers Reef). The presence of atolls is unusual. Most atolls are found in the Pacific, where they form on the top of submerged volcanoes. Very few occur in the Caribbean, and they differ in structure, the three in Belize for example lying on non-volcanic submarine ridges. Fish and invertebrates (notably molluscs, crustaceans, echinoderms and corals) predominate, but algae are also abundant. More species of fish are found on reefs than anywhere else in the sea, ranging from large sharks to tiny gobies. Most species on a reef are in fact never seen by divers and snorkellers as they are tiny, cryptic invertebrates that live in cracks and crevices and can be equated with the insects of the tropical rain forest. It is also likely that about 90% of all reef species, particularly the small invertebrates, are still undiscovered: SCUBA diving equipment was invented less than 50 years ago, and most reefs have only relatively recently become accessible to researchers. New species are being described all the time. For example, an entirely new biodiversity 'hotspot' has been discovered on the Belize Barrier Reef in the last two years in the semi-enclosed lagoons of the Pelican Cayes, a group of mangrove covered cayes. These have startlingly rich, colourful and unusual communities of sponges, corals, and other reef species encrusting the mangrove roots and lagoon sides; in one lagoon, over 40 species of seaquirts (a small, primitive, chordate) have been found.
The coastal area of Belize is an outstanding natural system consisting of the largest barrier reef in the northern hemisphere, offshore atolls, several hundred sand cays, mangrove forests, coastal lagoons and estuaries. The system’s seven sites illustrate the evolutionary history of reef development and are a significant habitat for threatened species, including marine turtles, manatees and the American marine crocodile. coral reef that is second in size to the Great Barrier Reef of Australia and the largest of its kind in the Northern and Western hemispheres. Extending for more than 180 miles (290 km) along the Caribbean coast of Belize, it maintains an offshore distance ranging from about 1,000 feet (300 m) in the north to 25 miles (40 km) in the south, except at Rocky Point, where it meets the shoreline. The 370-square-mile (960-square-km) area is protected by the contiguous Bacalar Chico National Park and Marine Reserve (established 1996), Blue Hole Natural Monument (1996), Half Moon Caye Natural Monument (1982), Glover’s Reef Marine Reserve (1993), South Water Caye Marine Reserve (1977), Laughing Bird Caye National Park (1991), and Sapodilla Marine Reserve (1996). Belize, the small Caribbean/Central American country with the longest barrier reef in the Northern Hemisphere; Belize, with over 60% of its land still covered by tropical forests; Belize, the center of the once powerful Mayan civilization. Now, for the first time we present 4 guided tours of Belize rich with information and beautiful photography. Explore Belize’s rich Mayan history; wander through a sample of our protected areas - marine and terrestrial; visit our 6 districts and their major towns; or tour the entire site.
