Tobacco Caye is one of the very few islands that are situated directly on the Belize Barrier Reef.  This makes Tobacco Caye an ideal location for study and research of the marine environment, as access to the reef and its associated habitats are easily accessible from the shore of the island.  More diverse habitats are just a short boat ride away, enabling us to focus on our mission of education, training, public service and scholarly research.

OUR MISSION

The mission of Tobacco Caye Marine Station is to provide experiential learning education programs for students of all ages and nationalities, training of local community members, public service and the support and conduct of scholarly research in the marine sciences, including documentation and preservation of the Belize Barrier Reef’s marine biodiversity and ecosystems. Through the implementation of environmentally sound technologies we are:

1) Dedicated to meet the needs of students from Belize and around the world
2) Working to empower local community members to participate in conservation activities to sustain livelihoods through restoration, protection, policy recommendations and co-management of South Water Caye Marine Reserve by helping to develop their skills, knowledge and values necessary for the integrated management of Belize’s marine resources
3) Providing support and conducting scientific research work, either independently or in collaboration with other researchers or laboratories.
The insights gained by this education, training, and research is widely disseminated through publications and public presentations, thus contributing to the increase and diffusion of knowledge of coral reefs and their associated ecosystems, and enabling policy makers to make better informed environmental decisions in guiding conservation and sustainable management of Belize’s marine resources.

OUR VISION

From our marine station, we are working to establish and facilitate strategic communicative competency towards a cooperative partnership between the Belize Fisheries Department and local communities buffering South Water Caye Marine Reserve (SWCMR).  We provide training to local community representatives desiring better marine resource management through meaningful co-management partnerships. We believe our work is an essential model for improving community cooperation in the protection of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System (MBRS) and the dispersal of conservation strategies on multiple levels. Through these efforts, Tobacco Caye Marine Station will supply affordable education and training programs in marine science and marine resource management, and build an extensive collection of relevant biodiversity data in the MBRS.

THE MESO-AMERICAN BARRIER REEF SYSTEM ~ M.B.R.S.

The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System is a designated World Heritage Site of global environmental importance. The MBRS is the longest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere, extending some 280 km along Belize’s Caribbean Coast and covers 1,400 Km2. The system encompasses the Reef Complex and associated habitats of extensive seagrass beds, mangrove forests, rich lagoons, more than 1,000 Cayes and three out of the four deep-water offshore atolls in the North Western Caribbean.

The System was declared a World Heritage Site on June 5, 1997 under UNESCO’s natural criteria VII, IX and X.
VII. To contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance
IX. To be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals
X. To contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-site conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.

There are 18 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) plus 11 Species Aggregation Sites (SPAGS) in the Belize Barrier Reef system. Under the status of a World Heritage Site these areas have been assigned International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) area categories for directives on how they should be managed. Tobacco Caye is located within South Water Caye Marine Reserve at the north end of the Southern Belize Reef Complex (SBRC), a 91 km stretch of shallow water reefs in Belize’s Barrier Reef System. The reserve was established in 1996 and is the largest of the 18 MPAs in Belize with an area of approximately 477 Km2. The South Water Caye Marine Reserve is under IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area) to maintain, conserve and restore species and habitats.

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