7 News Belize

A Hulking Wreck Stuck On Lighthouse Reef
posted (May 22, 1996)
Today, we also got a chance to ask the Chief Environmental Officer about an environmental eyesore. It's the M/V Transfer Cargo Ship which has been stuck on the on the barrier reef shoals off Lighthouse Reef for almost a decade. The ship ran aground in 2005, and on a trip south this weekend, we saw it was still there. We asked Allegria about it.

Jules Vasquez
"And the Hulking wreck is still there stuck on the reef. What is the status of that? What are the environmental consequences of this and would it ever be moved or will it just stay there to rot?"

Martin Allegria - Cheif Environmental Officer
"Well MV transfer was the critical point in our journey in Environmental Management in Belize especially the Marine Environment. Yes when that incident occurred we didn't have the legislation for example that we have now. We didn't have the capacity for damage assessment etc. so unfortunately that vessel has been there as you rightly said for years now notwithstanding. Recently there has been interest because of the scrap metal market so that's a possibility that we have to look into. However, it has to be done in an environmentally and safe manner so that at the end of the day the damage that it has already done that it is doing with hurricanes and with swaying - damaging the corals. If we can look at that and try to avoid it in the near future by completely removing it environmentally conscious wise and making some funds out of it rather than it just being there. Not only as an environmental hazard but also an eye sore for tourism and other stuff."

Jules Vasquez
"Were the owners of that vessel ever to pay a fine?"

Martin Allegria
"That's why I began the interview that back then we didn't have the law that we brought in in 2009 with the amendment of the act with the Standard Operating Procedures and guidelines on groundings."

Allegria says there are about 3 vessels presently stuck on Belize's reef system.

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