South Water Caye Marine Reserve

South Water Caye Marine Reserve
South Water Caye Marine Reserve
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
	Map of Belize
Location	Gulf of Honduras, Belize
Nearest city	Dangriga
Coordinates	16°43′08″N 88°08′56″W / 16.719°N 88.149°W
Area	47,702 hectares (117,870 acres)
Established	1996
Governing body	Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment

South Water Caye Marine Reserve is the largest marine reserve in the Stann Creek district of Belize. It was established in 1996 and covers 47,702 hectares (117,870 acres) of mangrove and coastal ecosystems.^[2] It includes the crown reserve of Man-O-War Caye, a nesting site for the brown booby and magnificent frigatebird. In 2017, National Geographic named Pelican Beach on South Water Caye one of the 21 best beaches in the world.^[3]

Important Bird Area

A 1.2m ha site off the coast of Belize, comprising the nation’s offshore and barrier islands, has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports significant populations of several resident, passage or breeding bird species, including white-crowned pigeons, red-footed boobies, roseate terns, Yucatan vireos, black catbirds, and golden-winged and cerulean warblers. The IBA encompasses the South Water Caye, Gladden Spit and Silk Cayes, Sapodilla Cayes and Glover's Reef marine reserves, Half Moon Caye, Laughing Bird Caye and Man-O-War Caye islands, as well as several spawning aggregations.^[4]

^ "South Water Caye Marine Reserve". protectedplanet.net.
^ ^a ^b Belize Tropical Forest Studies (2010). "South Water Caye Marine Reserve". Biodiversity and Environmental Resource Data System. Archived from the original on May 8, 2012.
^ Lovato, Kimberley (18 January 2017). "21 Best Beaches in the World". National Geographic. Archived from the original on January 21, 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
^ "Belize Off-shore and Barrier Islands". BirdLife Data Zone. BirdLife International. 2024. Retrieved 2024-09-16.

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National parks	Belize portal Aguas Turbias Bacalar Chico Billy Barquedier Chiquibul Five Blues Lake Gra Gra Lagoon Guanacaste Honey Camp Laughing Bird Caye Mayflower Bocawina Monkey Bay Elijio Panti Payne's Creek Peccary Hills Río Blanco Sarstoon-Temash St. Herman's Blue Hole
Natural monuments	Actun Tunichil Muknal Great Blue Hole Half Moon Caye Thousand Foot Falls Victoria Peak
Nature reserves	Bladen Burdon Canal Tapir Mountain
Wildlife sanctuaries	Aguacaliente Cockscomb Basin Corozal Bay Crooked Tree Gales Point Spanish Creek Swallow Caye
Forest reserves	Caye Caulker Chiquibul Columbia River Deep River Fresh Water Creek Grants Work Machaca Manatee Mango Creek Monkey Caye Mountain Pine Ridge Maya Mountain Sibun Sittee River Swasey Bladen Vaca
Marine reserves	Bacalar Chico Caye Caulker Gladden Spit and Silk Cayes Glover's Reef Hol Chan Port Honduras Sapodilla Cayes South Water Caye
Archaeological reserves	Altun Ha Barton Creek Cahal Pech Caracol Cerro Maya El Pilar Lamanai Lubaantun Marco Gonzalez Nim Li Punit Nohoch Che'en Santa Rita Serpon Sugar Mill Xunantunich Yarborough Cemetery
Other reserves	Aguacate Lagoon Bird sanctuaries Block 127 Community Baboon Sanctuary Golden Stream Monkey Bay Río Bravo Runaway Creek Shipstern