Environmental groups from Belize and Mexico are protesting a Mexican Navy project to expand a channel linking the Yucatan Peninsula’s Bay of Chetumal with Caribbean sea routes—and their criticism appears to be finding its mark.

At a recent meeting in Tulum, environmental authorities of the two countries agreed to launch a binational assessment of the impacts of the Zaragoza Canal project, which has been put on hold.

The Central American Environment and Development Commission (CCAD) will organize the mission under the supervision of the U.N. Environmental Program, says Marcelino Avila, permanent secretary of the Belizean Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Cooperatives. (The CCAD is an intergovernmental body of Belize, Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras.)

Meanwhile, Mexico’s federal environmental enforcement agency, Profepa, is preparing to sanction the Navy for exceeding the limits of its environmental permit for the project. During a site inspection in January, Profepa says it found evidence the Navy had used explosives on the ocean floor and dredged in a coral lagoon in international waters.

Grupos Ecologistas del Mayab (GEMA), representing NGOs in the Mexican peninsular state of Quintana Roo, has filed a citizens’ complaint with Profepa alleging that blasting by the Navy has destroyed coral near the 4-year-old state Manati Sanctuary Reserve.

Green Reef, a Belizean NGO, complains that the blasting also has killed sea turtles and fish. Says Green Reef President Mito Paz: “The activity is clearly threatening binational marine resources.”

Miguel Ángel Aguilar, spokesman for the Mexican Environment, Natural Resources and Fishing Secretariat (Semarnap), says the environmental groups have not produced proof of damage to flora and fauna.

The Navy wants to widen and deepen the channel to promote commercial traffic, according to its original environmental impact statement.

Plans for the canal area abound. Mexico’s Integrated Ports Administration is promoting a $2-million project to build a port at the mouth of the Zaragoza Canal for small cruise ships and commercial vessels. In all, the private ports development agency hopes to begin 10 waterfront projects in the canal area at a total cost of $26.5 million.

Aguilar notes the project also would allow Navy vessels to move between the Bay of Chetumal and the Caribbean without entering Belizean territorial waters. At the Tulum meeting, held last month, Mexico told Belize that an enlarged channel would help the Navy patrol narcotics trafficking and promote national security.

Residents of Chetumal and Xcalak, the small towns nearest the project, fear the dredging and increased ship traffic will damage reef systems that act as a barrier to hurricane-driven waves. They also want to protect tourist business at nearby La Poza, a popular diving spot.

Roberto Herrera and Sergio Salazar-Vallejo, scientists at the Chetumal campus of the private university Colégio de la Frontera Sur, argue the port projects do represent a threat to tourism. Further, they assert the development proposals might conflict with a regional land-use plan being drafted for the coastal area from Xcalak to Mahahual, the closest community to the north.

Similar concerns are evident in Belize.

“We are naturally worried about possible impacts to Belize, particularly the marine reserve of Bacalar Chico,” says Janet Gibson, director of the Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute, a U.N.- funded body of Belize’s Agriculture and Fisheries Ministry.

Bacalar Chico National Park, adjacent to the canal on the northern tip of Ambergris Cay, is a U.N. World Heritage Site.

Belize’s Avila says Mexico has agreed to join his country in establishing a permanent monitoring mechanism as part of the Meso-American Barrier Reef System, a joint reef-protection effort launched in 1997 by Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras.

“We will insist in pursuing this Zaragoza issue with the Mexican authorities to the end, because for us the Barrier Reef System is critical to our fishing and tourist industries and for all the coastal and rural communities who depend on it for their basic livelihood.”