Christopher Pala
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Progress in Kiribati: President Tong terms closure of Phoenix Islands to foreign fishing as “investment,” no longer “sacrifice”

11/8/2013

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This is my first published piece since the initial five-story series on the deceit cloaking Kiribati’s Phoenix Islands Protected Area. Published in Fiji’s Islands Business, the only magazine that circulates
throughout the Pacific islands, it reports significant actions (two disbursements of $2.5 million) and positive shifts in attitude on the part of the two main actors, President Anote Tong and Conservation International. And it pleasantly confirms that sometimes, when the bright glare of publicity illuminates unethical practices, the actors will improve their behavior. The question now is when will President Tong make a reality of his oft-stated and prize-winning boast: “In 2008, his government declared 150,000 square miles
(390,000 km2) "of [the] Phoenix Islands marine area a fully protected marine park, making it off limits to fishing and other extractive uses” (from his Wikipedia page). Should he do so, it would become the most important marine reserve in the world because it would have ended more fishing (an estimated
50,000 tons last year) than has been done in any other protected area, by far.
   TO READ THE STORY BELOW, CLICK ON THE HEADLINE ABOVE.



 
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