The Sapodilla Cayes Marine Reserve, located in southern Belize, is a chain of 14 islands off the coast of the Toledo District, currently co-managed by the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE). TIDE conducts routine patrols alongside the Belize Coast Guard (BCG) to protect the area from illegal fishing and other illicit activities. However, enforcement efforts are met with significant challenges, including transboundary issues stemming from the reserve’s proximity to Guatemala and Honduras.
Located along the southernmost tip of the Belize Barrier Reef System, the reserve includes three main protected zones: Hunting Caye, Lime Caye, and Nicholas Caye. TIDE rangers heavily monitor these areas in collaboration with the BCG. The region is a known fish spawning aggregation (FSA) site, serving as a biological hotspot for hundreds of marine species.
TIDE’s Project Manager, Florencio Coc, outlined several issues faced in managing this fragile marine ecosystem, including limited access to power and water, as well as occasional incursions by Guatemalan military vessels. Coc highlighted an area known as the Cayman Crown, which has become a point of contention. “This is a unique area because one section of the Cayman Crown is on the Belize side and the other on the Guatemalan side,” he explained. “That has been one of the challenges because our Guatemalan counterparts will argue that, because it is within their area, they want to completely take over.”
Coc added that while they had begun monitoring activities in Cayman Crown, geopolitical tensions forced a temporary halt. “Within that reserve, we have Seal Caye, which is one of our FSA sites. We have Nicholas up there, Risen and Bank, and then the Cayman Crown. So our monitoring for FSA mostly focuses on these three. We have started working in the Cayman Crown; however, because of some international issues with our neighboring country, we halted that. But I will discuss and share with you what our approach to that is.”
Despite these setbacks, enforcement efforts in the area, especially with the support of the BCG, have led to major confiscations of illegal fishing gear, including gillnets and longlines. “A number of longlines have been confiscated as well, so the enforcement team has been doing a lot of work in this area,” Coc said.
TIDE’s Executive Director, Leonardo Chavarria Jr., pointed to another challenge: the reserve’s recent expansion. “The reserve was expanded in 2020 to seven times its original size. Just picture 38,000 acres, that was the size of the Sapodilla Cayes Marine Reserve, and now it is over 321,000 acres,” Chavarria noted. “This happened within the past four and a half years. Since then, we’ve been aspiring to co-manage the reserve because we knew that TIDE had the expertise in terms of personnel and research.” TIDE officially assumed co-management responsibilities in October 2023, taking over from the Belize Fisheries Department.
The significant increase in size has made patrols more demanding. However, Chavarria said new surveillance technology has helped improve efficiency. “We could do strategic patrols, meaning we do not have to go out there if there is no need to. We can then conserve fuel and conduct more efficient enforcement,” he said.
From its base at Hunting Caye, the Belize Coast Guard conducts what it calls “dotted line patrols.” Lieutenant Allen Armstrong explained, “These dotted line patrols are conducted from Hunting Caye all the way to the Sarstoon River, along the equidistance line. These patrols occur at least four times per month, about once a week.” He added that the Coast Guard also carries out the “Corona Reef patrol,” better known as the Cayman Crown patrol, every week.
Armstrong reported that most enforcement actions involve illegal fishing by Guatemalan nationals. “We usually confiscate their gillnets. Just for this year alone, from January up until June, we have confiscated over 15,000 feet of gillnet,” he said.
While TIDE and the Belize Coast Guard continue to strengthen enforcement and conservation efforts, the Sapodilla Cayes Marine Reserve remains the subject of an ongoing territorial dispute between Belize, Honduras, and Guatemala. The matter is currently before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which is scheduled to hear Guatemala’s application to intervene in the territorial claim on November 24, 2025.
Despite the tensions, the area continues to attract vacationers from both Guatemala and Honduras, adding another layer of complexity to managing and protecting this vital marine ecosystem.
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