Hol Chan Marine ReserveNote: The data were entered in the language of the country of origin (English, French or Spanish) and there is no translation available yet.
Chapter 3. SITE DESCRIPTION
d - Human population and current activities
Inhabitants inside the area or in the zone of potential direct impact on the protected area:
|Inside the area||In the zone of potential direct impact|
|Inhabitants||not given||not given||22500||not given|
Comments about the previous table:
Description of population, current human uses and development:
San Pedro Town has an estimated population of approximately 20,000 permanent residents, but this fluctuates with tourism seasons. Tourism is the principal economic activity on the island. In 2007 there were a total of 99 registered hotels. Fishing is still an important activity but to a smaller scale. Most fishermen are permanent tour guides. Others work as fishermen part time only and mainly during the opening of the lobster and conch fishing season. Fulltime fishers are a minority.
Caye Caulker is a neighboring island with a small village community of about 2500 inhabitants. Tourism in an important economic activity but is not as developed as in Ambergris Caye. The village had 73 hotels in 2007, but are smaller than the hotels in San Pedro. Fishing is still a common economic activity in this community however many fishers are also part time tour guides.
Human presence in the MPA is by daily recreational users who access the Marine Reserve to snorkel and dive. In 2009 a total of 58206 visitors went to the Marine Reserve. Of this total 86% were snorkelers and 14% were diver. Tourist generally are from overnight visitors at San Pedro Town and Caye Caulker. Visitors from San Pedro represent 77% and Caye Caulker 23%.
|Activities||Current human uses||Possible development||Description / comments, if any|
|Tourism||unknown||unknown||- 58,206 in 2009. - Snorkeling and diving There are two recreational areas in the back reef and seven dive sites in the deeper fore reef. Mooring buoys are provided for recreational vessels. Anchoring is not allowed|
|Fishing||unknown||unknown||- Not more than 30 fishermen Local commercial. - Lobster closed season : February 15th to June 14th Conch closed season: July 1st to September 30th|
|Others||very important||unknown||Recreational Snorkeling and Diving: Snorkeling and diving are the main activities practiced at the marine reserve. There are two recreational areas in the barrier reef of the HCMR. These are the Hol Chan Cut and Shark Ray Alley. In 2009 over 58000 visitors went to the HCMR to snorkel or dive.|
e - Other relevant features
Tourism is the principal economic activity in the marine reserve. Tour operators and tour guides are dependent of the protected area to conduct their snorkeling and diving tours. There are almost 400 tour guide in San Pedro and 80 in Caye Caulker Village.
At a smaller scale commercial fishing is another traditional use in the protected area. Fishermen who have been using the area for many years are allowed to continue their fishing practices. They mainly fish for lobster and queen conch.
Aesthetic Interest : The principal area of aesthetic interest is the barrier reef which is also the no-take zone. The HCMR also include a large expanse of pristine mangrove islands with seagrass flats where tarpon, permit and bonefish are commonly found. Amongst the mangrove islands are deep water channel that are inhabited by the endangered West Indian Manatee.