Management and Conservation
The reserve is managed by the Hol Chan Marine Reserve Trust Fund Committee, which replaced the informal advisory committee which ran the reserve until 1994. The majority of the funds for the park's upkeep is generated from the fees charged to visitors for access to Zones A and D. These are not collected directly but instead via a yearly licensing scheme which applies to the boats of tour guides. Funding from the WWF ended in 1995. The establishment of the reserve in 1987 included four main goals. These were:
- Preserving an area of the coral reef ecosystem
- Providing recreational and tourist services while maintaining the utility of the area for fisheries
- Providing an opportunity for education and research within the park
- Conserving genetic resources
While fish stocks have increased, the fishing industry has continued to decline, and the management is faced with other problems: clearance of mangroves and other habitats in areas adjacent to the reserve, which affects the reserve but over which the committee has no control; increasing numbers of tourists, which although increasing revenue to the reserve through fees, puts pressure on the facilities both within the reserve and the nearby towns of San Pedro and Caye Caulker.
Read more about this topic: Hol Chan Marine Reserve
Famous quotes containing the words management and/or conservation:
“People have described me as a “management bishop” but I say to my critics, “Jesus was a management expert too.””
—George Carey (b. 1935)
“The putting into force of laws which shall secure the conservation of our resources, as far as they may be within the jurisdiction of the Federal Government, including the more important work of saving and restoring our forests and the great improvement of waterways, are all proper government functions which must involve large expenditure if properly performed.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)