Southern Environmental Association

Queen Conch Season Opens Tomorrow! 🐚

The Queen Conch Fishing Season officially opens tomorrow, October 1st, 2026, and runs through June 30th, 2027, unless the national production quota is reached earlier.

Remember the minimum legal requirements:
• Shell length: over 7 inches (17.8 cm)
• Unprocessed meat: over 7½ oz (213 g)
• Market clean: over 3 oz (85 g)
• Fully processed/fillet: over 2¾ oz (78 g)

Let’s fish responsibly and support a sustainable Queen Conch fishery. 🌊🐚

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Last month, SEA welcomed representatives from WWF Germany and WWF Mesoamerica for a four-day grant monitoring and site visit under the Reef Guard Project: Sustaining Life and Livelihoods.

One of the highlights was a visit to the Crocodile Research Coalition (CRC) at Flower Camp in the Placencia Lagoon, where WWF and SEA are collaborating with CRC on mangrove restoration efforts. Through this partnership, a mangrove nursery has been established on CRC’s property and currently holds approximately 600 red mangrove propagules planted in biodegradable bags, which will be used to support restoration efforts within the Placencia Lagoon area. 🌱

The team also visited Placencia Caye to monitor active mangrove restoration being carried out by WWF and CRC, providing an opportunity to see firsthand the progress being made to restore and strengthen this important coastal habitat.

The visit continued to Laughing Bird Caye National Park and the Gladden Spit and Silk Cayes Marine Reserve, where SEA shared how support through the Reef Guard Project is helping strengthen the management and protection of these important marine areas.

We are grateful for the continued collaboration between WWF Germany, WWF Mesoamerica, CRC, and SEA as we work together to protect and restore Belize’s reefs, mangroves, seagrass beds, and coastal ecosystems.💚

📢 NOTICE: REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS – NEW DEADLINE

The Southern Environmental Association (SEA), in collaboration with Humana People to People Belize, invites qualified and experienced firms/contractors to submit proposals for the design, supply, installation, testing, and commissioning of two communication towers at:

📍 Little Water Caye Ranger Station
📍 Laughing Bird Caye National Park

🗓️ NEW SUBMISSION DEADLINE: October 22nd, 2026

Interested applicants are encouraged to review the Terms of Reference (TOR) for full details, technical requirements, scope of work, and submission instructions.

🔗 Terms of Reference (TOR):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Nl5X8pA_9ZgSS5_hFI4nwKtj9Eq0-6Gn/view?usp=sharing

📩 Proposal Submission:
Please submit proposals to [email protected], with copies to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected].

Please share this opportunity with qualified firms and service providers.

Happy 45th Independence Day, Belize! 💙❤️
Look at Me, I Am Belize @ 45!

Proudly Belizean, proudly protecting what makes our country extraordinary. 🇧🇿🌊

This Independence Day, we celebrate 45 years of Belize: our people, our culture, our coastlines, and the natural treasures that connect us all. May our love for Belize continue to inspire us to care for our reefs, cayes, and communities for generations to come.🇧🇿

🏆 Finally Celebrating SEA’s 2025 Tour Guide of the Year: Andres Fletes! 🌊🤿

The recognition may have been a little overdue, but it was certainly well deserved! We finally had the opportunity to formally recognize Andres Fletes as SEA’s 2025 Tour Guide of the Year, presenting him with his certificate and a gift voucher courtesy of Pelican Beach Resort in recognition of his dedication to tourism, marine conservation, and sharing Belize’s underwater world.

Andres began his journey as a tour guide and diver in 2016, eventually turning his passion for the ocean into a career as a dive instructor.

His work extends beyond guiding. Through training with MARFund, Andres developed skills in Coral Reef Emergency Response and is certified to train brigade members. He has also gained valuable coral restoration experience through Fragments of Hope, strengthening his knowledge of reef conservation.

Through Above And Below - By Andres Fletes, Andres also combines his love for the ocean with underwater photography, capturing and sharing the incredible marine life found beneath Belize’s waters.

For Andres, guiding is about more than visiting a destination. It is an opportunity to share Belize’s history, culture, marine life, and conservation story while helping others understand why protecting these places matters.

Congratulations, Andres, on this well-deserved recognition and your continued commitment to Belize’s tourism and marine environment!👏

And we’re not done celebrating! Stay tuned next week for a special video feature highlighting Andres’ journey and the experiences that have shaped him as a guide.🎥🌊

These amazing photos were captured and shared with SEA by Andres Fletes | Above And Below - By Andres Fletes

A different view of a place we know and love.

A huge thank you to Fragments of Hope for the important work they continue to carry out at Laughing Bird Caye National Park. From coral restoration to monitoring and research, their efforts play an important role in the continued recovery and resilience of this special reef. 🪸

We’re grateful for their dedication and for the many years of work invested in restoring and protecting Laughing Bird Caye. Every effort makes a difference. 💙🌊

Stella’s Journey ends with a question for all of us. 🐢🌊

Over the past few days, Stella’s story has taken us from changing shorelines and disappearing nesting habitat to the restoration of South Silk Caye, a reminder of what can happen when a community comes together for a place worth protecting.

But the story doesn’t end there.

Today, Laughing Bird Caye National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is facing erosion of its own. As the island continues to change, Stella’s final question becomes ours:

“Could we come together again?”

South Silk Caye showed us that collective action can make a difference. Through awareness, collaboration, and community support, we can continue working to protect the cayes that are part of our natural heritage.

Share Stella’s Journey. Start the conversation. Help us keep attention on Laughing Bird Caye.💙

Because sometimes, protecting a place begins with people caring about what happens to it.

Chapters 7 & 8 of Stella’s Journey are here! 🐢💙

A few nesting seasons later, Stella returned to South Silk Caye and saw firsthand what restoration and community action had made possible. With 40 turtle nests recorded this year, the caye is once again providing nesting habitat for a new generation.

Seeing all those nests left Stella hopeful for the other cayes she once knew.

But before Stella’s Journey ends, she has something important to say…

Stay tuned tomorrow.🌊