Tourism Ministers of Guatemala and Belize meet in San Pedro

The Minister of Tourism of Guatemala, Honorable Dr. Jorge Samayoa and the Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation and Culture, Honorable Manuel Heredia Jr. met today. The meeting was a part of a courtesy call made by Samayoa to Heredia at his San Pedro Town Office. The Guatemalan Minister was accompanied by the Head of Marketing for Tourism Sylvia Paiz de Estrada and the Central American Integrated System (SICA) Executive Director Mercedes Melendez de Mena.
The delegation of three met with Minister Heredia, who was accompanied by the Chairperson of the Belize Tourism Board of Directors Miriam Roberson, Director of Tourism Selenie Matus and recently appointed Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Tourism, Lindsey Garbutt.
In November, Minister Samayoa was appointed as the Minister of Tourism of Guatemala. He is scheduled to take over the SICA Pro Tem Presidency of Tourism Ministers early next year, a position currently held by Minister Heredia. Both Ministers and their teams met behind closed doors where a number of issues were discussed.
In a brief interview with Minister Heredia, he said that Minister Samayoa visit is part of his planned visits to all Central American Tourism Minister. The visit is ahead of taking the Pro Tem Presidency of SICA Tourism Minister early next year.
Following the courtesy call Minister Heredia hosted the delegation to lunch.

NEMO holds last meeting to officially closes the Hurricane Season 2010

The official hurricane season runs through the months of June through November. Tuesday November 30th marked the last day of the Hurricane season for the year 2010. The past Hurricane Season saw the country facing three major scares.

Hurricane season 2010 started on June 1st and promised to be one of the most active in recent years. With twenty one names listed: Alex, Bonnie, Collin, Danielle, Earl, Fiona, Gaston, Hermine, Igor, Julia, Karl, Lisa, Matthew, Nicole, Otto, Paula, Richard, Sharry, Thomas, Virginie and Walter, hurricane season 2010 was well underway. Twelve of those named storms became hurricanes and of those twelve, five were intense hurricanes; major hurricanes categories three four or five. For us here in Belize, the threats didn’t start until late June.

On June 26th at about six pm, tropical storm Alex, the first named system of the season made landfall in Belize approximately twenty miles north of Belize with maximum sustained winds of about 65mph. The damage suffered by the country as a result of TS Alex was fairly minimal notwithstanding the fact that it was a very large system.

Karl and Matthew followed within 10 days of each other. What started off as an area of interest, I92L, out in the Caribbean, moved westward and reached tropical storm status “Tropical Storm Karl” late Tuesday afternoon, September 14th. At about 7:30am on Wednesday September 15th, the center of tropical storm Karl made landfall just north of the country of Belize, passing through and going towards Chetumal, Mexico with maximum sustained winds of about 45 mph. The extent of the tropical storm covered the area between San Pedro and Belize City, covering the Orange Walk and Corozal Districts and northward over the Yucatan Peninsula. This was followed shortly after by Matthew and Richard.

Hurricane Richard was the 17th named storm and the 10th hurricane of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season. Richard developed from an area of low pressure that stalled in the Caribbean Sea in mid-October. It slowly organized and was declared a tropical storm and given the name Richard on October 20th 2010. At around 5:40pm on October 24th, Hurricane Richard made landfall about 20 miles south-southeast of Belize City at peak intensity with wind gusts of about 90-100mph.

Hurricane Richard crossed the country of Belize to the Guatemalan Boarder maintaining its strength all the way through. Hurricane Richard caused major structural damage and power outage for most of the country. The citrus industry suffered a major blow as all the citrus crops were blown off the trees. Richard destroyed many homes leaving thousands without roofs over their heads. However most importantly, Richard also caused the loss of two lives.
Through all these threats and in some cases, hurricanes, the National Emergency Management Organization NEMO and its various sub bodies, including the members of the Emergency Operating Committee were instrumental in maintaining order and keeping residents of both islands safe.
Miss Jeromey Timrose Augustine, DEC District Emergency Co-ordinator for Belize Rural south which includes San Pedro and Caye Caulker, hosted a final meeting for the hurricane season 2010. The meeting was held at the conference room at the Villas at Banyan Bay on Thursday December 2nd at2:00pm. The purpose of this meeting was to officially close the hurricane season as well as issue Certificates of Appreciation and awards to outstanding chair persons and members of the Emergency Operating Committee EOC that have supported NEMO throughout the Hurricane Season. Over 35 individuals gathered at the conference room, where Mayoress Elsa Paz offered her thanks to the team for a job well done during the Hurricane Season, as well as reports given by the various committee leaders.

After certificates and awards were issued, the group was invited for refreshments and a social. The San Pedro Sun congratulates all members of NEMO, the EOC, Public Servants as well as volunteers that worked tirelessly throughout all the threats that we faced in the past months, to keep us all informed and safe. Now that the threats are over, it is now time to re-build and start making plans for Hurricane Season 2011.

Trawling Totally Banned in Belize

PRESS RELEASE

(Embargoed to Wed Dec 8)
Wed December 8, 2010
Belize City, Belize

All forms of trawling in Belize has been banned in the country’s waters including its EEZ when Minister responsible for Fisheries Rene Montero today signed the Statutory Instrument effecting this legislative change.

The ban which is effective January 1, 2011 is a historic decision of Prime Minister Dean Barrow’s administration that has also passed legislation to protect parrot fish, regulate sport fishing and control the issuing of fishing license.

The call to ban bottom trawling had been made some years ago but lacked the political will as the government was faced with the reality of what to do with the existing trawlers owned and operated by the Northern Fishermen Cooperative Association (NFC). Oceana in Belize in collaborating with the government assisted in resolving this concern by negotiating the buy-out of the two shrimp-trawlers.

After discussions with the fishers directly affected by the proposed ban, Oceana was able to secure the full support of the Belize Fishermen Association which has a membership of four cooperative including the NFC. In the letter, signed by the Chairman Allan Bevans Green, Vice Chairman, Carlton Young and Secretary Ovel Leonardo Sr. the BFCA expressed support for the buyout of the trawlers. “By our support of the sale of the two trawlers to Oceana, the BFCA also agrees to support Oceana in its Endeavour to ban all trawling permanently within the waters of Belize,” concluded the letter.
Belize has become one of only three countries in the world to institute a complete and permanent ban on trawling in all its waters. Large areas in the US, Indonesia, Phillipines and other Pacific islands are closed to trawling, though not the entire country. Venezuela and Palau, like Belize banned trawling completely.

Vice President for Oceana in Belize, Audrey Matura-Shepherd says that this is a historic milestone in the life of the Belizean fishers and the environmental community because “it is indicative of the partnership that could be forged for the betterment of the people and country of Belize”. “We thank the government for its bold decision and look forward to being able to work with any administration on marine issues for the development of Belize,” she added.

This move is critical because it comes at a time when UNESCO is asking the Government to report on what corrective measures it has taken to remove the existing threats to the Belize Barrier Reef System.

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What’s new? Mathieu’s Delicatessen

Mathieu’s Delicatessen is one of San Pedro’s newest establishments that opened its doors to residents of Ambergris Caye. A venture of Gunter Mathieu and Anna Williams, Mathieu’s Delicatessen offers food delivery as well as retail services.
Specializing in freshly hand prepared ready meals, breads, pastries, cakes and beverages; Mathieu’s is opened Monday through Saturday 6:00am to 2:00pm, offering breakfast and lunch.
Breakfast goods include cinnamon rolls, breakfast sandwiches, pastries and a variety of bread choices. Newly opened, Mathieu’s hopes to offer home made pasta lunches: fettuccine, ravioli and lasagnas, as well as catering to vegetarian customers. They also plan on offering pre-packaged meals in portion packs, sold frozen and chilled, among other services.
Well known to residents of San Pedro as well as Caye Caulker, Gunter brings over 30 years of experience working in and managing restaurants and food businesses. On Caye Caulker North, Gunter was known for his creative cooking and exciting full moon parties.

With a background as a teacher and a marketer for corporate design companies, a trader at a hedge fund and a dive instructor, Anna takes care of customer service and marketing at Mathieu's Delicatessen. Together, they form the ideal partnership. For more information on this new fave – contact either Gunter or Anna at 670-DELI.

SPPD increases patrol for the christmas holidays

The Christmas holidays are upon us and generally with all the celebrations on the island, there is an influx of tourists, visitors and criminals as well. This time of the year also brings an increase in the sales of Alcoholic beverages, and, of course, more drunken people on our streets and beaches. With this in mind, the San Pedro Police has decided to embark on an Anti-Crime Christmas Campaign.

According to the Officer in Charge of Duties and Discipline at the San Pedro Police Department, Sergeant Basil Reyes, this campaign commenced on November 15th, 2010 and is scheduled to run through January 15th, 2011. The campaign seeks to address the Christmas anti-crime situation, by employing additional police personnel to cover the business area and provide a heighten security for residents in the area.

This will be achieved through assistance from the special constable program, as well as additional personnel coming from other branches to assist. A major area of concern is the burglary prevention patrol in the night time. The police have embarked on additional foot patrol, mobile patrol on land and sea, stop and searches of individuals gathering on street corners as well as conducting house searches among others.

Word of advice for individuals leaving the island to travel, “ensure that you leave some type of information with someone that you will be away, find someone to look after your property and provide them with contact information of yourself as well as of the police in the event it would become necessary. The San Pedro Police Department will continue the efforts to control the various situations that may arise during the Christmas celebrations such as drunk driving and so forth, through high visibility patrol and ensuring that personnel be available to respond to citizen’s concerns and enforce the law.

The San Pedro Police Department invites the general public to do their part by reporting suspicious activities in your area to the Police by dialing 911 or 226-2022. With this said, Sergeant Basil Reyes, on behalf of the San Pedro Police Department wishes the residents of Ambergris Caye as well as visitors a safe and Merry Christmas and reminds “the police is here to serve the community”.