Port Honduras Marine Reserve

Port Honduras Marine Reserve
IUCN Category IV (Habitat/Species Management Area)
Location Gulf of Honduras
Nearest city Punta Gorda[1]
Area 40,470 hectares (100,000 acres)
Established January 2000
Governing body
  • Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment
  • Toledo Institute for Development and Environment

Port Honduras Marine Reserve is a national protected marine reserve in the Toledo district of Belize. It was established in January 2000,[1] and covers 40,470 hectares (100,000 acres) of mangrove and coastal ecosystems. It encompasses over one hundred small, mangrove-fringed cayes, benthic habitats comprising soft-bottom seagrass beds and fringing reefs.[2]

The reserve is co-managemened by the community-based Toledo Institute for Development and Environment.[2] It is divided into two zones: a general use zone,[3] and a conservation zone.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b Belize Tourism Board. "Port of Honduras Marine Reserve". Travel Belize. http://www.travelbelize.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=201&Itemid=253. Retrieved 3 September 2011. 
  2. ^ a b Toledo Institute for Development and Environment. "Port Honduras Marine Reserve". http://www.tidebelize.org/en/initiative/port-honduras-marine-reserve. Retrieved 3 August 2011. 
  3. ^ Belize Tropical Forest Studies (2010). "Port Honduras (General Use)". Biodiversity and Environmental Resource Data System. http://www.biodiversity.bz/find/protected_area/profile.phtml?pa_id=125. 
  4. ^ Belize Tropical Forest Studies (2010). "Port Honduras (Conservation Zone)". Biodiversity and Environmental Resource Data System. http://www.biodiversity.bz/find/protected_area/profile.phtml?pa_id=107660.