He said indigenous fishermen know about the tiniest details regarding the habitats of the fish, including fish behavior, reproduction cycles and other activities.
Tudela chairs the land and ocean resource committee of the CNMI Descents for Self-Government and Indigenous Rights.
“The indigenous people are completely opposed to the Pew Group’s monument proposal,” Tudela said.
The plan to designate the norther islands of Uracas, Maug and Asuncion as part of a “national monument will definitely deprive local fishermen of their livelihood,” he said.
He said they are still using the “ancient” way of fishing which includes the “interaction of nature and its seasons.”
“The traditional way is basically scientific by observation,” Tudela said.
The Pew Group, he added, is trying to eliminate the traditional ways of preserving and conserving marine resource.
“Their Western mind doesn’t fit with the local mind,” he said.
Former Speaker Oscar C. Rasa, the group’s spokesman and adviser, said the Pew proposal does not include the cultural values of indigenous people.
“Our livelihood has always been connected to the ocean,” Rasa told Variety.
Tudela said the claim that the project will generate millions of dollars for the CNMI is “mere speculation.”
That area, he added, is not even “feasible” for recreational diving for tourists.
Rasa believes that local residents can eventually resettle the three islands, which were inhabited before.
“I think in the long run we will be resettled there. We long for home because we’re island people,” he said.
