Second in size only to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the 600-mile-long Mesoamerican Reef stretches along the coasts of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras. Its sandy beaches, small fishing villages and azure waters attract thousands of visitors each year.

But the area is more than just picturesque: home to some 500 species of fish and 60 species of coral, the reef is a hotbed of marine diversity. Large populations of whale sharks patrol the waters, and sea turtles, sharks, manatees and dolphins find rich feeding grounds in the reef’s sea grass beds and mangrove forests.

And the local economy depends on this diversity. Fish, like grouper, snapper, conch and lobster are extremely important food sources in the region and are exported as well. Sport fishers flock to the area in search of prized bonefish, tarpon and permit fish. And every year thousands of visitors travel to tourist epicenters like Cancun and Belize. 

But the health of the reefs’ marine life and the survival of its fishing communities are under siege. Rising sea temperatures, pollution, overfishing and habitat destruction have all contributed to deteriorating conditions for the Mesoamerican Reef.

Dwindling Fish Catches Lead to New Approaches

Throughout history, fishermen along Central America and Mexico’s Caribbean coast have returned from full-moon nights at sea with large catches that fed their families and sold in the marketplace. Over time, scientists realized that the fish were coming out in masses to mate under the full moon in a swirling cloud-filled dance called a spawning aggregation. 

In some locations of Belize, the catches have dwindled over the years from a ton a day in the 1970s to a handful of fish in the 1990s. The Nature Conservancy, along with national and international conservation organizations and local governments, has been working in the area to identify the spots where these aggregations occur. Thirteen spawning aggregation sites have been labeled as no-take zones by the Belizean government.

The protection allowed the fish to regenerate without being harvested and the numbers of fish within these sites has slowly increased. Based on this experience, the Mexican government is committed to protect the aggregation sites in Mexico, once they have been identified.

In Mexico's Banco Chinchorro Biosphere Reserve, the Conservancy works to monitor the reef and develop marine management plans with local conservation organization Amigos de Sian Ka'an and the reserve staff. We are also working with local landowners along the coast to curb illegal fishing.

A Reef Under Threat

Corals around the world are facing threats from increasing sea temperatures, pollution and physical destruction from boats and anchors.

When corals are exposed to higher temperatures and pollution, the algae that provide much of their color die and the corals bleach. A few of these corals withstand or recover from these high temperatures and bleaching actions and are called resilient.

The Conservancy is pioneering reef resiliency research that uses science and technical expertise to identify those corals that can withstand threats especially from bleaching events. The Conservancy is working with governments and local organizations to create a network of marine protected areas in the region to protect these resilient corals.

Long-Term Approaches to Protecting the Reef and Fishers

One of the core strategies for conservation in the region is to secure a network of well-managed protected areas. The Conservancy and its partners do not sit back after a protected area or no-take zone has been declared. Instead, we work with the government and other agencies to create plans that ensure rangers and patrollers are hired and that there is financing for patrol boats. We also continuously track spawning aggregations to ensure that the protected areas are in the appropriate places.

The Conservancy is helping with the creation of spawning aggregation working groups in each country, comprised of local fishermen, researchers, reserve staff and other practitioners working on spawning aggregation monitoring in the region.

Local Participation and Community Involvement

Throughout the Mesoamerican Reef, fishing doesn’t just generate income but is a way of life handed down across generations. Communities and conservationists now realize that the seas’ bounty is not limitless and a few restrictions need to be made so that fish don’t disappear from the sea. Fishing families need other means of livelihoods that are closely tied to the sea.

The Conservancy is working with local partners and communities to develop income-generating alternatives to unsustainable fishing. Fishermen are being retrained for tourism related jobs. In Punta Allen, a community nested in the middle of the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, most fishermen have switched from leading very intensive extractive fishing to become fishing guides for the more environmental friedly catch-and-release fly-fishing.

An ecotourism complex on the bay islands of Cayos Cochinos in Honduras includes a restaurant managed by local community members. In the Rio Esteban project, closer to the Cayos Cochinos Marine Natural Monument, three families that once depended on diving for lobster now run a restaurant supplied by an organic family farm.

Every day Conservancy scientists and conservationists are working against the clock to protect the Mesoamerican Reef’s corals, its fishes and the livelihoods of the people who depend on it for survival. 
 

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): © Astrida Valigorsky (Lighthouse Reef Atoll, Belize); © Nancy Sefton (Nassau Grouper a native of Mesoamerican Reef waters); © TNC (Map)