Episode 2 : Turneffe Atoll, Belize

The swamps and mangroves around Belize's coral reef are home to one of the country’s most endangered predators - the American Saltwater crocodile. This week, our intrepid international team find themselves trying to hold back a deadly tide, which is threatening to wipe out the crocodile in Belize forever. Pollution and illegal waste are turning the Caribbean paradise into one of the world's garbage dumps, and the area's unique wildlife is paying the price. It's only the team's second week working together, and the stakes are high, but they're already starting to fall apart. When builders Dawn and Ryan find they've been left to complete the most difficult task of the week all on their own, tempers start to fray. The only way the team can possibly complete their mission is to work together - a rift in the group could mean the difference between success and disaster.

Turneffe fast facts:

• Turneffe Atoll has one of the most important nesting beaches in Belize for the endangered American saltwater crocodile
• Global warming/climate change devastates coral reefs, causing coral bleaching. This affects whole ecosystems, including bigger animals up the food chain, like crocodiles
• Destruction of mangroves and coastal development threatens the beaches where crocodiles lay their eggs
• Rubbish is also a big threat to the whole marine eco-system and marine mammals. Seven billion tons of rubbish is dumped into our oceans every year.
  

Melanie McField - WWF Marine Scientist Mesoamerican Reef

		Melanie has a PhD in Marine Science and has been working on the Mesoamerican Reef for many years. Although Melanie sometimes makes it into the water, the reality of day to day conservation is often a lot less ‘sexy’. Melanie spends a lot of time co-ordinating with all of the different parties she works with and holding workshops and meetings. She says a conservation project entails turning a good idea into a good proposal, securing funding, writing work-plans, implementing the project and then writing a variety of reports and communications materials.
Melanie loves implementing projects that involve some aspect of discovery and which improve the rather poor understanding we have of complex coral reef ecosystems and then using this new information to improve conservation and management strategies. Melanie says sometimes, however, it’s very difficult to keep a positive outlook as the problems and threats to the marine environment and the animals that live in them are so varied and often so overwhelming. She hopes that she can continue to fine-tune conservation projects according to ongoing scientific discoveries, thus achieving better integration of science into conservation plans. Melanie didn’t find it tough being on camera for Planet Action, in fact quite the contrary! She says it was fun and easier than a normal working day! She does regret, however, agreeing to take the carcass of a dead crocodile home to let it finish ‘drying out’! Her backyard didn’t smell quite right for many days!

Project update

Since the team left the Turneffe Atoll in Belize, there have been important developments. The Government of Belize has declared one of the most important nesting beaches for the endangered American Saltwater Crocodile in the Caribbean, Cockroach Bay, a reserve. It is now considering the creation of a larger new protected area, which would include this beach reserve and associated habitats. WWF has secured funding for the management of the two critical spawning site marine reserves at Turneffe Atoll. With support from the Oak Foundation, WWF and its local partners are in the process of initiating
on-site management of these two protected areas. Marine park rangers and a station manager were hired and stationed at the hut built by the team on Calabash Caye.

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