The Fisheries Protection Trust Fund, which is expected to help finance management of the Palau National Marine Sanctuary (PNMS), has risen close to $3 million, according to the PNMS update published by the Palau International Coral Reef Center (PICRC) last week.
The goal of the fund is to reach $10 million, at which point it will be used to “provide sustainable financing for surveillance, enforcement, training, administration, and eco-tourism for the PNMS”, according to the report.
The $2,924,436 collected for the fund as of August has been from contributions from the Pristine Paradise Environmental Fee (PPEF), fines for violations of fisheries laws, and $1 million donated to the PNMS from the Republic of China (Taiwan) between 2017 and 2018.
More than half of the fund ($1,746,783) comes from collections from the PPEF. The PPEF, which was instituted in 2018, requires all visitors departing Palau to pay a $100 environmental fee, of which $5 goes to the Fisheries Protection Fund. The rest is divided between governmental, environmental, and infrastructural maintenance.
A large portion of the fund, which was invested in financial markets last year, accumulated an interest of $2,652.
Fisheries Protection Trust Fund approaches $3 million
