Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Protection for the Reefs

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

GUATEMALA CITY, Feb 2 2004 (IPS) - Environmental authorities from Guatemala and Belize installed a plant on the Sarstún River aimed at protecting the portion of the Mesoamerican Reef System (SAM) that corresponds to those two countries. It is the third such installation for protecting the SAM, which extends from Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula south to the Bay of Honduras, biologist Carlos Baldeti told Tierramérica.

“The SAM includes the second most extensive reef in the world, after Australia's (Great Barrier Reef). Given its length, the composition of reef types and the opulence of coral, it is unique in the western hemisphere,” he said.

“The reef system serves as a reproduction site and as a source of food for mammals, reptiles, fish and marine invertebrates, as well as for land animals and numerous bird species,” Baldeti said.

Associated with the SAM coral reefs are vast extensions of coastal marshes, lagoons, marine grasses and mangroves, which hold threatened species like manatees, crocodiles, jaguars and tapir.