Minutes of BETA Board Meeting, Nov. 21, 2003

Meeting opened at 10am at the IDB building in Belize City. Present were Mick Fleming, Godsman Ellis, Donna Hill, Judy Yaeger, Mike Heusner, and Marta Hirons.

Donna reported that there is $1742 in the BETA treasury.

As the first board meeting of the new officers, there was no fixed agenda. Mick reported that BTIA has given BETA its seat back on the BTIA board, and it was agreed that when Mick couldn’t attend those meetings, Godsman would serve as an alternate representative. Judy will send a letter to BTIA to inform them of this decision.

Mick read a letter he received from Minister Mark Espat, welcoming the new board and suggesting that BETA and the minister meet before the end of the year to discuss whatever issues BETA deems important. Members agreed that this was a good idea.

The Paynes Creek de-reservation issue was discussed at length. In addition to BETA, several other organizations have written the minister of natural resources to record their objections to the de-reservation for a cruise ship development. No one was sure what the status of the de-reservation was at this point in time. There was agreement that the issue needed to be brought to the public’s attention, either as a newspaper article, a press release, or an ad. The board tentatively decided to run an ad, and Mike agreed to check with other organizations to see whether they also wanted co-sponsor the ad. Judy said she would develop the text of the ad, based on the letter BETA sent to Minister Breceno.

The rest of the meeting was spent discussing cruise ships and their impact on nature-based tourism. The recently distributed Cruise Ship Policy was discussed, but no one knew whether it was a draft or a final document, or whether its recommendations would be enforced. Mike suggested that minimally a moratorium on new licenses be implemented so that the stated 8,000 person per day limit not be exceeded. A great deal of concern was expressed over the effects of the large numbers of passengers on the reef and on archeological sites.

In general, it was agreed that we needed some data about cruise ships in general and in Belize in particular, such as how were the carrying capacities in the Cruise Ship Policy determined? What are the financial ramifications of cruise ships to the Belize government, as well as to private individuals? What is the reaction of cruise ship passengers to Belize? How do cruise ships effect potential long-stay visitors to Belize? Mick, Mike, and Godsman said they would work on trying to get answers to some of these questions. Distributing a questionaire to cruise ship passengers was also discussed, and Judy said she would work with the draft that Donna provided. People also agreed that the more organizations that worked together on the cruise ship issue, the greater our potential impact.

Finally, it was agreed that board meetings would be open meetings, so that any interested member could attend.

Meeting was adjourned at 12 noon.

Respectfully Submitted,

Judy Yaeger

BETA Secretary