The Belize Barrier Reef has some beef to settle, and it’s not planning on being quiet about it.
The reef with a beef – that’s what the largest barrier reef in the northern hemisphere is calling itself. The Belize Tourism Board has launched a new witty social media campaign to promote marine conservation and responsible tourism. And through it, the Belize Barrier Reef now has its own “personal” social media channels on both Instagram and Twitter (@reefwithabeef). Reef With a Beef hopes to call out the rising pollution that threatens our oceans. Launched on World Oceans Day, the campaign hopes to provide a platform where people around the globe can learn about the value of our most beautiful but very fragile marine ecosystems.
Photo by Oceana
The Belize Barrier Reef Gets Its Own Social Media
Like Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, and even Edvard Munch’s The Scream, the Belize Barrier Reef now has its own Twitter (and Instagram) account. It made its first post on World Oceans Day, and judging from an introductory video, the “Reef With a Beef” certainly has a lot to say.
Calling out instances of mass pollution around the world, the reef notes that “in 10,000 years I’ve seen a lot, and right now I’m seeing a Pacific garbage patch as big as Texas, trash at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, microplastics inside 75% of fish in the North Atlantic, and a whole lot more.”
On Twitter, the reef has already had an active weekend, retweeting posts by activists and sharing a few of its own.
When @katyperry said “do you ever feel like a plastic bag,” I don’t think this is what she meant. Do better! #ReefWithABeef https://t.co/IU3e0PwXkv
— ReefWithABeef (@ReefWithABeef) June 10, 2023
The Reef With a Beef says that it is here to “lambast the littering”, “roast the rubbish” and “point out the pollution”.
About the Belize Barrier Reef (Aka the “Reef With a Beef”)
Photo Courtesy Oceana
In a press release by the Belize Tourism Board, Minister of Tourism & Diaspora Relations, Hon. Anthony Mahler, said “Conservation has always been part of Belize’s DNA.”
“Through intensive efforts spanning decades, nearly half of the entire nation has been protected as either nature preserve, wildlife sanctuary, or national park,” he added. “Our Belize Barrier Reef is the greatest illustration of our drive and passion for conservation.”
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- Photo by the Belize Tourism Board
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- Photo by the Belize Tourism Board
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- Photo by the BTB
In 2018, the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System (BBRRS), was officially removed from UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites in Danger. Threats to its health and longevity by coastal construction and oil exploration had earned it a spot on the list, where it remained for almost a decade. With the enactment of a formal policy to ban offshore oil exploration, however, alongside a host of other conservation efforts, UNESCO elected to remove the reef from the list on June 26, 2018.
Today, more than half of the country’s population relies on the reef to live in some way or the other.
Featured Photo by Duarte Dellarole.
