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The tour was aimed at assessing the spill's long term impacts. Today in a press conference held by the "Belize Coalition to Save our Natural Heritage", Matura-Shepherd - who recently returned from her trip to the Gulf- shared with us some of the impacts she saw firsthand near the Deepwater Horizon spill.

Audrey Matura Shepard, Vice President of Oceana in Belize
"The purpose of my trip was really a fact finding one and was to learn what was happening out in the Gulf of Mexico and to see if there was any relationship with Belize, if there was any relevance, and if we could learn a lesson...and, boy, there was a lesson to be learned! I learned that in Louisiana unlike what is being said and that 75% of the oil has disappeared; that not true. A vast portion has been seeped up in the marshes and is it's right there in the marshes, so much so that right now they have booms around the islands to keep the oil on the marshes and not back in the water. I think it should be an eye opener simply because for now I will assume that the government is making decisions out of ignorance, they have not seen what I have seen and I haven't seen all. I could learn more and read more but I don't think they have realized the impact that this industry will have on Belize on a whole. We are looking short term and we are saying oh the economy is bad and any money will keep the budget tight will just bridge us through the next budget and stuff like that is good, but no, that is being very myopic and it's being very foolhardy because what will be happening is that, yes, we will be solving this problem for now but we will be creating a long term problem as I saw has happen in Louisiana and Louisiana doesn't have a barrier reef. Yes their marshes are rich but their marshes are a little more sturdier than a barrier reef so I will think that the government needs to really appraise itself as to what it means to have wells out along dotting our coastline, what it means to have these tankers out there floating; it's like houses floating on water full of oil and having these pipes running to our coastline and there will be serious dredging that needs to be done so that vessels could come to port and load these oils and take it out."

Monica Bodden
"Now, what were the areas that you had the opportunity to tour?"

Audrey Matura Shepard, Vice President of Oceana in Belize
"Well I went from New Orleans and drove to an area named Plaquemines and from Plaquemines I went to Myrtle Grove and from Myrtle Grove I took a vessel to an area called Barataria Bay and that is a rich marshland area and from there I went to Grand Isles and from Grand Isles I went a little bit out to the gulf but I was like 80 miles away from where the disaster actually occurred, the weather wasn't conducive for me going all that way and also the vessel that I was on board was very small."

So far there are no known indirect threats to Belize as a result of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.