The UK Government through its Sustainable Blue Economies Programme Blue Social Challenge Fund (BSCF) has awarded a grant of £99,191 (approximately BZD250,000) to MarAlliance for the project “Mangrove Habitat for Juvenile Fish Recruitment: Building Local Knowledge and Capacity.” This initiative reaffirms the UK’s commitment to collaborating with Caribbean nations to safeguard vital ocean resources.
The Fund aims to enhance the resilience of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like Belize and their economies to the impacts of climate change and economic shocks, through better ocean management, poverty reduction/improved livelihoods and greater use of nature-based solutions.
High Commissioner Christine Rowlands stated:
By funding this project, we are supporting work that enables local communities and fishers to contribute data needed for the sustainable management of Belize’s beautiful mangrove forests and juvenile fishes. This in turn contributes to improved livelihoods of fishers, sustainable fisheries, and builds climate resilience of coastal communities. This is the purpose of BSCF, to support vulnerable communities working together to address the adverse impacts of climate change on their livelihoods and we are happy to work with MarAlliance on this initiative.
Belize’s mangrove ecosystems play a crucial role in mitigating coastal erosion, sequestering carbon, and providing essential nursery habitats for juvenile fish. However, extensive mangrove loss over the past two decades has posed a significant threat to coastal integrity and the livelihoods dependent on sustainable fisheries.
This project seeks to bridge critical knowledge gaps by evaluating the contribution of mangroves to fish population recruitment. Leveraging advanced methodologies such as environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis, the initiative will generate valuable insights to enhance fisheries management in Belize. By actively engaging university students and local community members, the project aims to expand the scientific understanding of mangrove ecology while delivering direct economic benefits to stakeholders through training and fieldwork participation. The data collected will provide coastal communities and policymakers with robust evidence on the ecological and economic value of mangroves, facilitating informed conservation strategies in Belize.
A key aspect of the project is its participatory approach of co-created scientific research with fishers and coastal communities. Through targeted training initiatives, local community members will be empowered to take an active role in resource stewardship, ensuring alignment between local practices and national fisheries objectives.
Dr. Rachel Graham, Founder and Executive Director of MarAlliance highlighted that:
Our mangrove based fisheries work illuminates the critical role of these ecosystems as vital nursery habitats, bridging scientific inquiry and community knowledge to quantify and protect juvenile fish populations. With profound gratitude to the British High Commission, MarAlliance is transforming local fishing insights into evidence-based strategies that support small-scale fishers adapting to unprecedented environmental challenges along Belize’s vulnerable coastal shorelines.
The project’s outputs will include a publicly accessible scientific report informing of the contributions of mangroves to biodiversity and fisheries productivity. Ultimately, this initiative aims to have a cadre of trained local biologists and fishers, heighten awareness of mangroves as critical nursery habitats for sustained fisheries, strengthen community livelihoods, and drive policy actions to protect Belize’s coastal ecosystems, thereby enhancing resilience to climate change.
