Belize Barrier Reef - wikipedia Belize Barrier Reef Belize Barrier Reef Brain Coral in the Great Blue Hole The Barrier Reef is clearly visible along the Belizean coast. Location Belize and Honduras Nearest city Belize City, Belize Coordinates 17 ° 18 ′ 56 '' N 87 ° 32 ′ 4 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 17.31556 ° N 87.53444 ° W ﻿ / 17.31556 ; - 87.53444 Coordinates : 17 ° 18 ′ 56 '' N 87 ° 32 ′ 4 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 17.31556 ° N 87.53444 ° W ﻿ / 17.31556 ; - 87.53444 UNESCO World Heritage Site Official name Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System Type Natural Criteria vii, ix, x Designated 1996 ( 20th session ) Reference no. 764 State Party Belize Region Latin America and the Caribbean Endangered 2009 -- present The Belize Barrier Reef is a series of coral reefs straddling the coast of Belize, roughly 300 meters ( 980 ft ) offshore in the north and 40 kilometers ( 25 mi ) in the south within the country limits. The Belize Barrier Reef is a 300 - kilometer ( 190 mi ) long section of the 900 - kilometer ( 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 up to Honduras, making it the third largest coral reef system in the world after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the New Caledonian barrier reef in New Caledonia. 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. Charles Darwin described it as `` the most remarkable reef in the West Indies '' in 1842. In addition to its barrier reef, it also boasts three distinct Caribbean atolls : Turneffe Atoll, Glover 's Reef and Lighthouse Reef. Lighthouse Reef is the most easterly diving area in Belize, it is home to the Great Blue Hole, made famous by Jacques Cousteau in 1970 ; Turneffe Atoll lies directly to the east of Belize City and is the nearest of the atolls to the capital. These different reefs provide diverse scuba diving opportunities that include walls, pinnacles and reef flats that are located throughout an enormous area of sea. Contents 1 Species 2 Environmental protection 3 Gallery 4 See also 5 References 6 External links Species The Belize Barrier Reef is home to a large diversity of plants and animals : 70 hard coral species 36 soft coral species 500 species of fish hundreds of invertebrate species With 90 % of the reef still needing to be researched, it is estimated that only 10 % of all species have been discovered. Environmental protection A large portion of the reef is protected by the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, which includes seven marine reserves, 450 cayes, and three atolls. It totals 960 square kilometres ( 370 sq mi ) in area, including : Glover 's Reef Marine Reserve Great Blue Hole South Water Caye Marine Reserve Half Moon Caye Natural Monument Hol Chan Marine Reserve Cayes include : Ambergris Caye, Caye Caulker, Caye Chapel, Carrie Bow Caye, St. George 's Caye, English Caye, Rendezvous Caye, Gladden Caye, Ranguana Caye, Long Caye, Moho Caye, Blackbird Caye, Three Corner Caye, Northern Caye, Tobacco Caye, and Sandbore Caye. In 1996 the Reserve System was designated a World Heritage Site due to its vulnerability and the fact that it contains the most important and significant natural habitats for in - situ conservation of biological diversity ( according to criteria VII, IX, and X ). Belize became the first country in the world to completely ban bottom trawling in December 2010. In December 2015, Belize banned offshore oil drilling within 1 km of the Barrier Reef. Despite these protective measures, the reef remains under threat from oceanic pollution as well as uncontrolled tourism, shipping, and fishing. Other threats include hurricanes, along with global warming and the resulting increase in ocean temperatures, which causes coral bleaching. It is claimed by scientists that over 40 % of Belize 's coral reef has been damaged since 1998. The Belize Barrier Reef has been affected by mass - bleaching events. The first mass bleaching occurred in 1995, with an estimated mortality of 10 percent of coral colonies, according to a report by the Coastal Zone Management Institute in Belize. A second mass - bleaching event occurred, when Hurricane Mitch struck in 1998. Biologists observed a 48 percent reduction in live coral cover across the Belize reef system. Usually, it is hard to distinguish whether the reason for coral bleaching is human activities or natural reasons such as storms or bacterial fluctuations. But in the case of the Belize Barrier Reef, many factors which make the distinction difficult do not apply. Human population in this area is much more sparse than the corresponding areas near other coral reefs, so the human activity and pollution are much lower compared to other coral reefs and the Belize reef system is in a much more enclosed area. When coral bleaching occurs, a large part of the coral dies, and the remaining part of the ecosystem begins the process of repairing the damage. But the chances of recovery are low, as corals that are bleached become much more vulnerable to disease. Disease often kills more corals than the bleaching event itself. With continuous bleaching, the coral reef will have little to no chance of recovery. Gallery Green sea turtle with remora fish on its back Close - up view of the reef Barrier reef aerial Snorkeling the reef Fan corals of the reef The Belize Barrier Reef photographed from the International Space Station in 2016 See also List of reefs World Heritage Sites in Danger References ^ Jump up to : Harrabin, Roger. ( 2006 - 06 - 12 ) Reef at forefront of CO2 battle. BBC News. Retrieved on 2011 - 10 - 21. Jump up ^ `` Scuba Diving in Belize : The Blue Hole, Ambergris and Turneffe Atoll ''. dive-the-world.com. Jump up ^ Belize Barrier Reef Case Study. Westminster.edu. Retrieved on 2011 - 10 - 21. Jump up ^ `` Guatemalans trawling in Belize 's southern waters ''. Channel 5 Belize. 27 February 2013. Retrieved on 2013 - 02 - 28. Jump up ^ `` Belize Bans Bottom Trawling in Exclusive Economic Zone ''. Oceana. org. 8 December 2010. Retrieved on 2013 - 02 - 28. Jump up ^ `` Government Implements Ban On Offshore Drilling ''. 7 News Belize. Retrieved 23 December 2015. Jump up ^ `` Coral Collapse in Caribbean ''. BBC News. May 4, 2000. Retrieved on October 21, 2011. Jump up ^ Brian Handwerk and Lauri Hafvenstein Belize Reef Die - Off Due to Climate Change ?. National Geographic. March 25, 2003 External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Belize Barrier Reef. UNESCO World Heritage website Protected areas of Belize National parks 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 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 hide Corals and coral reefs Stony corals Blue Brain Elegance Elkhorn Hermatypic Chalice Pillar Staghorn Table Soft corals Bamboo Black Organ pipe Sea fans Sea pens Coral reefs Atoll Cay Coral Fringing Microatoll Coral reef fish Census of Coral Reefs The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs Catlin Seaview Survey Spur and groove formation Coral regions List of reefs Deep - water coral African coral reefs Amazon Reef Andros, Bahamas Belize Barrier Reef Coral Sea Islands Coral Triangle Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Great Barrier Reef Maldives Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System New Caledonia barrier reef Pulley Ridge Raja Ampat Islands Red Sea Southeast Asian coral reefs Coral diseases Coral bleaching Black band disease Skeletal eroding band White band disease White pox disease Protection Coral Reef Alliance Coral reef protection Green Fins International Society for Reef Studies Project AWARE Reef Check Reef Ball Other Artificial reef Aquaculture of coral Coral dermatitis Precious coral Coral rag Coral reef organizations Coral sand Coralline algae Environmental issues with coral reefs Fire coral Reef resilience Rugosa ( extinct ) Symbiodinium Tabulata Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Belize_Barrier_Reef&oldid=845746699 '' Categories : Reefs of Belize Tourist attractions in Belize Coral reefs World Heritage Sites in Belize Underwater diving sites in Belize Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System World Heritage Sites in Danger Hidden categories : Coordinates on Wikidata Articles which use infobox templates with no data rows Talk Contents About Wikipedia Asturianu Беларуская Български Brezhoneg Català Cebuano Čeština Dansk Deutsch ދިވެހިބަސް Español Esperanto فارسی Français 한국어 Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית ქართული Lietuvių Magyar Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Русский Simple English Slovenčina Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska ไทย Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt 中文 31 more Edit links This page was last edited on 13 June 2018, at 21 : 03. 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Question: where is the second largest barrier reef located
Answer: New Caledonia