Seafood mislabeling in Belize

This post was co-authored with Courtney Cox, a PhD student in my lab at UNC, studying fisheries management and reef resilience in Belize. Our paper on seafood mislabeling in Belize is out in Conservation Letters (here).  This paper is the fist of several from our project designed to evaluate the effectiveness of Belize's national ban on herbivorous fish harvesting as a coral reef conservation tool.  Recognizing that MPAs alone were not preventing the degradation of its invaluable reef ecosystem, the Belizean government passed a new regulation in April 2009 preventing the harvesting of any species of parrotfish (Scarids) or surgeonfish (Acanthurids) nationwide: “No person shall take in the waters of Belize, or buy, sell or have in possession any grazers” (Statutory Instrument No. 49 of 2009).  This is the first legislation of its kind and, if effective, has the potential to globally revolutionize coral reef management. Nearly all Belizeans claim [...]