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| News this quarter |
Whale sharks in Belize
‘My trip to Belize in September was a very last minute affair….I had a week’s annual leave left and was desperate to go diving,...
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Lionfish
The lionfish is the 2nd most collected fish for the aquarium trade after the Clownfish. During hurricane Andrew in 1992, the Pterios volitans lionfish was introduced to Key Biscayne, Florida when a beachside aquarium broke!
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Beach cleanups
ReefCI guests have been assisting other guests and staff on Hunting Caye with beach cleanup sessions.
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Prince and Eagleheart
ReefCI run a community development sponsorship program for young local youths to help them become PADI Dive Masters which is a good job in Belize.
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1st Quarter 2010
Lionfish
The lionfish is the 2nd most collected fish for the aquarium trade after the Clownfish. During hurricane Andrew in 1992, the Pterios volitans lionfish was introduced to Key Biscayne, Florida when a beachside aquarium broke! Lionfish are not indigenous to the Caribbean. The Pterios volitans is an indigenous species in the indo pacific where it is not a problem. However, in the Caribbean the lionfish are feeding on key juvenile fish species such as parrotfish and groupers and juvenile crustaceans such as lobsters. They are known to consume an average of 8.2 times their body weight per year and they breed rapidly! The impact these fish have to the Caribbean could be huge! In Belize the department of fisheries have a program in place that encourages all divers, snorkelers and fishermen to remove them from the ocean when sighted. This is not a problem in the shallow waters where many have been found in San Pedro, northern Belize. ReefCI divers have found a total of 7 lionfish so far in the Southern Belize waters; this is very scary especially as there are not many divers or snorkelers in the area! Our staff and guests have been using a stick and net to remove the lion fish and it is not an easy task! Sometimes when they are at depth it takes a number of attempts. After capture, the fish are sent to the Department of Fisheries who are analysing sightings and sending samples to a university in the US for dna testing.
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