Fisheries officers seized 1,086 conch from a storage facility inside a protected marine reserve, just two days before conch season opened.
The conch were packed into two iceboxes at Sandbore Caye, in the Lighthouse Reef Atoll Marine Reserve. Officers found them on Tuesday, September 29, during a patrol with the Belize Coast Guard and the Belize Audubon Society.
One person has been charged with possession of conch during the closed season under the Fisheries Resources Act. The case is before the court. The Fisheries Department has not named the accused.
The closed season runs from 1 July to 30 September to give conch stocks time to recover. Taking, buying, selling or possessing conch during that period is illegal.
The department says breaking the closed season hurts more than the reef. It is also unfair to the fisherfolk who follow the rules and wait for the season to open.
