In 2009, Palau was made the world’s first national shark sanctuary after President Toribiong made the pronouncement at the opening of the U.N. General Assembly session in 2009.
According to a statement from the UN, Palau and Honduras are two countries that have stopped shark fishing in their waters.
The statement said that Toribiong and President Porfirio Lobo Sosa of the Republic of Honduras issued a challenge to other world leaders to work together to save the world’s sharks.
The two Presidents are calling on coastal countries to establish shark sanctuaries in their waters, where no shark fishing is permitted, and for all fishing countries to end shark finning and the global overfishing of sharks.
“We have done what we can in Palau’s waters to save these magnificent masters of the sea,” Toribiong said.
“We have found that healthy shark populations keep our marine environment healthy and our tourism industry thriving. However, if unregulated overfishing of sharks throughout the world’s oceans continues, small island states such as ours will lose a vital resource, and the oceans on which our very lives depend will be irrevocably altered,” he added in his statement before the UN.
Lobo for his part in the statement stated “Our decision to protect sharks was made not just for this generation but for generations to come.”
Honduras has announced a moratorium on all shark fishing in Honduran waters in February of this year.
“The price of shark fins for the global trade drives fishermen to skirt or break limits on fishing and finning that would otherwise conserve shark populations. We call on other governments to join us in protecting sharks in their waters, for the sake of healthy coastal marine ecosystems and economic development,” he said in the statement.
