ARTICLE PHOTOS COURTESY: OCEANA
To Love & Protect: Belize, an Eco Conscious Destination WRITTEN BY: OCEANA
What will it take to keep
Belize’s
beautiful coral thriving? CARIBBEANLIFESTYLE.COM
I
t is a point of patriotic pride for Belizeans to boast that the Belize Barrier Reef is the longest barrier reef system in the Western Hemisphere, and for good reason. At a time when coral reefs across the planet are being hit hard by a myriad of threats, Belize’s marine assets still boast of beauty and bounty. The continued state of health and wellness for Belize’s reef depends not only on safeguards and protections put in place by Belize’s policymakers, but also on individual choices. Belize’s highly diverse reef system includes more than 60 coral species. These coral inhabit approximately 180 miles of barrier reef, three offshore atolls, numerous patch reefs, and many complex mazes of faro reefs and fringing reefs. This living factory in turn provides food and shelter to more than 300 marine invertebrate species and more than 500 species of fish. This wide diversity of marine wildlife helped to earn Belize its World Heritage Site designation in 1996; one of less than 50 marine sites globally.
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