<Tr> <Th> Region </Th> <Td> Latin America and the Caribbean </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Endangered </Th> <Td> 2009--present </Td> </Tr> <P> 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 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 . </P> <P> Charles Darwin described it as "the most remarkable reef in the West Indies" in 1842 . </P>

What is the length of belize barrier reef