KOROR (Palau Horizon) – THE Palau Shark Sanctuary has sought the assistance of the Surveillance and Enforcement of Remote Marine Areas to find options to effectively patrol the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone against the illegal shark fishing trade.
Palau gained popularity after President Johnson Toribiong declared the country as the world’s first shack sanctuary.
However with only one patrol boat at its disposal, it will be a challenge to patrol Palau’s 240,000 square-mile EEZ.
Dermot Keane, founder of the Palau Shark Sanctuary said that there are modern technologies that could beef up efforts of Palau in terms of fisheries surveillance.
Palau Shark Sanctuary was founded in 2001 andseeks a declaration by Palau establishing the waters ofthe country’s EEZas a sanctuary for all sharks.
Under the SERMA technical options, there are a range of surveillance technical options that could be considered to help Palau man its EEZ even with one patrol boat at hand.
SERMA has outlinednew and emerging technologies to keep track of what is happening on the water.
In earlier interview, Toribiong said Palauis looking into developing nations for support in maritime surveillance to effectively patrol its waters from poachers involved in the shark fishing trade.
Palau has a shark fishing lawwhich carries a $250,000 US fine for fishing, mutilation and transport of sharks in Palau waters.
Shark fishing remains a lucrative business, especially with the demand in parts of Asia for shark’s fin soup InPalau waters , there are more than 70 foreign fishing vessels, many of them operating illegally.
About 130 shark species are found in Palau waters.
Palau’s economy is heavily reliant on tourism and fishing.
The tourist activity inPalau iscentered on diving and snorkeling in tropical waters filled with coral reefs, marine life and World War II wrecks.
Last week , the country calledfor an international moratorium on shark finning.
Palau’s s United Nation Ambassador Stuart Beck said the killing of 73 million sharks a year, just because people like the way their fins taste in soup, shows just how badly wrong things have gotten with ocean mismanagement.
Sharks are vulnerable to overfishing because of their low fertility rates and long life spans.
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