Dredging Suspension: Government Responds to Placencia Fisher Concerns

The Minister of Natural Resources says the government has listened to the concerns of Placencia fishers and suspended dredging in the Will Bauer Flats area. This week, a group of fishers rallied against the Department of Environment’s Decision to permit a developer to dredge the area. And, yesterday, the Ministry of Natural Resources informed the developer that they must investigate the best approach to dredging after hearing the concerns. The ministry explained that while it accepts the validity of the permit, they have not met all the dredging conditions, which include putting up containment structures and arranging site visits by both the Fisheries Department and the Mining Unit. Minister of Natural Resources Cordel Hyde says that while he would do away with the proposed project, there is a need to find an amicable solution. 

Cordel Hyde, Deputy Prime Minister: “It’s legitimate concerns. It’s concerns that we have heard loud and clear and that is why the government intervened to ensure that no dredging takes place in the immediate. But there was a process to get here. Let’s not forget that it wasn’t a unilateral decision that ended up with these folks getting permission to move forward with their development, like they went through an entire NEAC process and that NEAC body as you well know has a whole bunch of actors from across the environmental community, across the government sector and those persons studied this thing I believe seriously I think they take their jobs very seriously and their responsibility seriously and they studied it and ultimately gave environmental clearance. Ultimately the Fisheries Department gave an unobjection and based on that the mining department gave a mining license. And as I understand it there were also two consultations that took place in Hopkins but I’m not sure who attended because you know consultations sometimes could be just a few people, could be not the serious people, could be not the real stakeholders. If it were up to me I would say just kill it totally but these things as you know have a life of their own, there are always legal implications with these things but I can tell you that Cabinet is very concerned about it because you know ultimately we have to protect this space. Development is always a challenge in this day and age. How do you balance the socioeconomic benefits that come with projects against the environmental and ecological challenges that come with it and how do you ensure that that development is sustainable ? That’s the balance that bodies like NEAC have to weigh and the government ultimately have to weigh. In the mean time we will have more discussion, take very seriously the concerns of brother Eworth and the other folks who have expressed deep concerns about this project and Cabinet will then have to decide on the way forward.”

The driving force behind the project’s rejection was Eworth Garbutt, President of the Belize Fly Fishers Association.