 As of January 1999, less than 1% of elkhorn, staghorn, and lettuce corals remained alive within the Basil Jones area (within Bacalar Chico), while 90% of boulder star coral was afflicted with black-band disease immediately after the bleaching event.In fact, the threat posed by climate change was one of the primary reasons the UNESCO World Heritage committee awarded its designation to the seven marine protected areas in Belize.In addition, BCNPMR is among the five marine protected areas in Belize that can be classified as overfished.