September 29th 2009:
The Republic of Palau is an Island nation in the Pacific some 500 miles east of the Philippines , with a rich and diverse marine ecosystem surrounding it. The economy of Palau subsists primarily on tourism, agriculture and fisheries, and it came as a great surprise to all when they announced in the recent UN Assembly the brave step to create the world’s first “shark sanctuary”, banning all commercial shark fishing in its waters.
The move announced by the Island nation’s President Johnson Toribiong, stated that Palau will protect about 600,000 sq km (230,000 sq miles) of ocean, roughly the area of France, and aim to curb the cruel practice if shark fining, which is the process of catching sharks, cutting off their fins and throwing the rest of the fish, still alive, back into the ocean to die.
The fins are prized throughout Asia for use in sharks fin soup and local medicines. As many as 100 million sharks are killed each year around the world and the once prolific shark, is now slated to be placed on the endangered list in the next few years.
“Palau will declare its territorial waters and extended economic zone to be the first officially recognized sanctuary for sharks,” Palauan President Johnson Toribiong told the Associated Press in an interview Thursday.
The Palau Shark Sanctuary will not only serve to protect the Shark but will also aid in Palau ‘s economic growth, with a tourism industry that relies heavily on World-class Scuba diving, and snorkeling as a leading source of revenue the destruction of Palau’s shark population contributes to unbalancing of the marine reef diversity which could over time cause fish populations to decline.
At present with only one boat to patrol the waters of Palau which is an area the size of Texas, seems like a monumental task and will need to step up its enforcement measures; but is indeed a step in the right direction and should serve to encourage other nations to take better measures to conserve our marine ecosystems.
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