On November 6, 2026, a coordinated cross-agency maritime enforcement patrol led by the Belize Coast Guard and rangers from the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE) carried out targeted operations in the territorial waters adjacent to Belize’s southern maritime boundary with Guatemala, near the ecologically sensitive Corona Reef. The joint team successfully located and removed three unmarked, prohibited gillnets that had been deployed illegally in the protected zone. During the same patrol, crew members spotted an unregistered suspicious vessel operating in the restricted area and initiated standard interception protocols. The unmarked craft fled immediately upon detecting the patrol team, and on-site officers visually tracked it as it crossed the international maritime boundary into Guatemalan territorial waters. To comply with cross-border jurisdictional rules and avoid unnecessary diplomatic friction, the patrol made the operational decision to halt the pursuit. Gillnets have been formally banned across Belize’s entire national marine territory due to their well-documented destructive impact on coral reef ecosystems, non-target marine species including endangered sea turtles and manatees, and sustainable local fishing livelihoods. The Belize Coast Guard emphasized in an official public statement that the successful seizure of the three illegal gillnets marks another critical milestone in ongoing, long-term efforts to crack down on unauthorized foreign fishing incursions, safeguard the country’s globally significant biodiversity-rich marine reserves, and uphold national maritime sovereignty. Authorities note that repeated incursions by Guatemalan fishing vessels using banned gillnets in Belizean border waters remain a persistent environmental and regulatory challenge that coordinated inter-agency patrols are designed to address.