He says his country is one of the first to allocate its exclusive economic zone for marine conservation.
“In fact, we were the first to declare our EEZ as a whale sanctuary. This year is our sanctuary’s 10th birthday and in 10 years the number of whale sanctuaries around the world has grown significantly,” he said.
In another historical first, the Cook Islands government in partnership with traditional leaders has begun community consultations to garner support for the establishment of a large marine park.
“I am pleased to say that there was overwhelming support from the Rarotonga public. The consultations are supportive of allocating approximately half of our 2.2 million square kilometers of EEZ as a large marine park,” Puna said.
“This is a significant proportion of our sea and ocean.”
