Palau Contemplates How To Best Protect Its Waters

TaiwanPlus News

The Pacific island nation of Palau is home to pristine waters and diverse marine life but it's now struggling to protect this bounty. Ally Taiwan is willing to help.

Transcript

00:00Whenever 35-year-old government worker Dustin Blesom has time, he takes his boat out to

00:07sea around his island home, Palau.

00:10For Blesom and generations of Palauans before him, fishing this bountiful part of the West

00:15Pacific is an integral part of life here, a hobby that helps put food on his family's

00:20table.

00:22But he knows the future of these waters is not guaranteed.

00:27I would like my kids to grow up and experience the same thing I have.

00:32Now like today compared to many years ago, it's different.

00:37Everybody owns a boat, everybody owns a fishing line.

00:42Palauans like Blesom are facing a fishing dilemma.

00:45Some 340 small islands here in the South West Pacific make up the country Palau.

00:51By population it's one of the smallest in the world with just 18,000 people living here.

00:57But Palau's exclusive economic zone covers more than 600,000 square kilometres of Pacific

01:03Ocean, with some of the most biodiverse coral reefs in the world, home to grouper, snapper

01:09and tuna.

01:10For nearly 10 years, 80% of these waters have been off-limits to fishing, but that soon

01:16could change.

01:21President Sir Angle Whipps Jr, entering his second term in office, wants to open up his

01:26country's waters to fishing, diversifying Palau's tourism-dependent economy and giving

01:31his people access to more affordable seafood.

01:34It's an issue dividing the nation.

01:36Opponents say that the work of the last decade to rebuild marine resources could be undone.

01:41We were working on putting all the registration information.

01:45Diplomatic ally and fellow island nation Taiwan believes it has a solution to opening up fishing

01:52sustainably.

01:53They're hoping to fix automatic identification systems on to Palau's fishing boats.

01:59So we can see like every boat's activities in the coastal areas and the second thing

02:05is that it comes with a geofencing feature which we can lay down all the conservation

02:11areas or the protective areas in the coastal areas.

02:18Illegal fishing and incursions coming from outside Palau are also becoming a headache

02:22for authorities here.

02:24There's been an uptick in unexplained fishing equipment and Chinese research vessels entering

02:28Palau's exclusive economic zone or EEZ.

02:32You know we're a long ways from China, but to have ridges within our EEZ and on our continental

02:42shelf that have Chinese names on them because of those research vessels to me is a threat

02:47to our territorial boundaries.

02:53For President Whips, activity like this is part of Chinese intimidation of his country

02:58for recognising the sovereignty of Taiwan which Beijing says is part of its territory.

03:03Despite pressure from China to drop diplomatic ties with Taipei, Palau says it will stick

03:08by Taiwan and face up to Chinese intimidation.

03:12But that it needs international help.

03:15Taiwan has its own experience fending off Chinese intimidation, with China Coast Guard

03:19boats increasingly entering its territorial waters, knowledge it is now sharing with ally

03:25Palau.

03:27Maritime security issues or Coast Guard patrol skills or programmes is a common interest

03:36for all the island countries.

03:37Of course we have several island country allies, so we can always take from our own

03:46experience because we have a very comprehensive programme in our Coast Guard and our Coast

03:53Guard is willing, is always willing to cooperate in that front.

04:00Life here in Palau is inseparable from the ocean that surrounds it, a coexistence with

04:04nature that has developed over centuries.

04:07But Palauans are now confronting the biggest challenges these pristine waters have faced

04:12in decades, as the geopolitical turmoil swirling around the region closes in on these tropical

04:18islands.

04:20Alex Chen and Rick Lowatt in Karoor, Palau for Taiwan Plus.

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