Doe Cayman shared Earthjustices photo. DID YOU KNOW? Palau is to ban commercial fishing and become a marine sanctuary roughly the size of France. Palaus President Tommy Remengesau Jr. has declared the Pacific nation a marine sanctuary, where no commercial fishing will take place. Announced at a UN oceans conference, Palaus 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone will be a 100 per cent marine sanctuary, and commercial operations will be banned within the Pacific nations territorial waters. We have no choice - the ocean is our way of life, he said. Its our livelihood, its our culture, its our economy - I always say the economy is our environment and the environment is our economy. You may ask why, why are you doing this? It makes every sense for our sustainability as a people, as an island nation, and as a community. Palau currently has commercial fishing contracts with Japan, Taiwan and several private companies, which will be allowed to expire. Mr Remengesau says locals and tourists will continue to be able to fish, but no commercial scale operations will take place. I may not be the best fisherman, but I am a fisherman, he said...I can tell you that in just my generation Ive seen stocks of fish dwindle down, Ive seen the sizes of fish taken become more smaller. This is something that is far more than the economical loss of revenues for companies or other countries - youre talking about a livelihood thats really going to be decimated if we dont take the responsible action. The marine sanctuary follows the declaration of a shark sanctuary in Palau in 2009. Shark sanctuaries have since been declared in several other countries, including the Maldives, Honduras, Marshall Islands and French Polynesia. Mr Remengesau says a dead shark is worth several hundred dollars, but a live shark is worth $1.9 million in tourism during its life span. He says his country will promote scuba diving, snorkelling and eco-tourism as an alternative income to commercial fishing. Were not just closing our waters and throwing away the key, he said. Were closing our waters because we will do our part of making sure that theres healthy stocks of fish in Palau that can migrate to other places, and that there are other options to grow the economy. These are important ways to make a living and at the same time preserve the pristine environment that we have been blessed with in Palau.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Feb 2014 00:28:07 +0000
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