NEW YORK (PALAU GOVT) —Palau’s Minister Steven Victor, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment, participated in a roundtable discussion on High Seas Marine Protected Areas.
Palau was the first nation to ratify the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement, commonly referred to as the high seas treaty. Sixty ratifications were needed for it to be entered into force.
This week, it was announced that 60 nations had ratified it with more to come. Minister Victor spoke about engaging with other Pacific islands advance a high seas Marine Protected Areas.
Protecting high seas areas like this in the Pacific is essential to give wildlife a chance to recover and to enact protections for these life sustaining ecosystems.
The countries of the region have worked together before to close off pockets to industrial fishing practices to safeguard biodiversity through the Parties to the Nauru agreement, which aimed to strengthen the conservation and management of tuna in the region and to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.
“With the high seas treaty coming into force, we have a new opportunity to protect the broader Pacific,” Minister Victor stated…. PACNEWS