BELIZE REEF

Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System

Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System

The Diversity of Life Forms Found In the Area

It covers an area of 96,300 ha, on the coast of Belize. It is a habitat consisting of atolls, mangroves and keys of various sizes and houses many endangered species such as manatees, sea turtles, or American crocodile. It contains distinguished 178 species of vascular plants and 247 floras, and it also counted more than 500 varieties of fish, 65 coral and 350 molluscs. Other common species in the area are the frigate birds, brown pelicans and cormorants. There are at the same time, some Mayan settlements such as San Juan, on the East Coast Reserve Bacalar Chico (Belize Institute of Environmental Law and Policy, 2004).

They differ in three areas: the North, the average depth varies from two to three meters, reaching up to six meters. The second area in southern Belize reaches 65 feet deep in the Gulf of Honduras. The third area, in Glovers Reef, the depth reaches 300 and 400 meters west and over a thousand meters to the east (Belize Institute of Environmental Law and Policy, 2004).

Reserve System Barrier Reef of Belize comprises the following areas:

National Park and Marine Reserve Bacalar Chico.

Blue Hole Natural Monument (Blue Hole).

Half-Moon Cay Natural Monument (Half Moon Cay).

South Water Cay Marine Reserve (South Water Cay).

Glovers Reef Marine Reserve (Glovers Reef).

Laughing Bird Cay National Park (Laughing Bird Cay).

Sapodilla Cays Marine Reserve-(Keys Zapote).

The reservation system of Belize Barrier Reef is a chain of coral reefs that are located at varying distances from the coast of Belize, 300 yards from the northern shore and forty kilometers, in the south. Its length is approximately 300 kilometers and is part of the Mesoamerican Reef, the second set of largest coral reef in the world after the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. It is the most important place for tourism in Belize drawing half of its 260,000 visitors, it is central to its fishing industry (Belize Institute of Environmental Law and Policy, 2004).

It is estimated that the Belize Barrier Reef began to form about 500 million years before man existed. It is one of the biggest coral reefs of the Caribbean Sea and the planet. There is a fascinating formation called The Eye, which is more than one atoll reef. It has a great diversity of species, including shark reef and lemon sharks and soft coral species such as sea fans and brain coral-hard. Among the colors, the corals can be white, green, pink, red, purple and even black. There are also lots of fish of various colors and can be confused with the coral reef, so it is said to be home to a large marine life. It measures about 350 kilometers long and about 25 kilometers from the coast. It forms a bright white line from Key Ambergis, in northern Belize to Cayo Ranguana the south. The Great Barrier Reef and along the coast, the sea is very calm because the barrier stops ...