File:Satellite_image_of_Belize_in_March_31,_2002.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Belize Barrier Reef
Sign in to saveseries of coral reefs straddling the coast of Belize
Key facts
- Location
- Belize
- Nearest city
- Belize City, Belize
- Official name
- Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System
- Type
- Natural
- Criteria
- vii, ix, x
- Designated
- 1996 (20th session )
- Region
- Latin America and the Caribbean
- Endangered
- 2009–2018
via Wikipedia infobox
~6 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Brain coral in the Great Blue Hole
The Belize Barrier Reef is a series of coral reefs straddling the coast of Belize, roughly 300 metres (980 ft) offshore in the north and 40 kilometres (25 mi) in the south within the country limits. The Belize Barrier Reef is a 300-kilometre (190 mi) long section of the 900-kilometre (560 mi) Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, which is continuous from Cancún on the north-eastern tip of the Yucatán Peninsula through the Riviera Maya and down to Honduras, making it the second largest coral reef system in the world after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It is Belize's top tourist destination, popular for scuba diving and snorkeling and attracting almost half of its 260,000 visitors. It is also vital to the country's fishing industry.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Belize Barrier Reef” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.