Kiribati to open one of world?s largest marine protected areas to commercial fishing

The Kiribati government has announced it will open up one of the world’s largest marine protected areas to commercial fishing, citing economic benefits to its people.

The Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) spans 408,250 sq km (157,626 sq miles) - an area about the size of California - and was created in 2006 with the entire area declared a “no-take” zone in 2015, meaning that commercial fishing is forbidden.

Kiribati, a collection of islands in the central Pacific and which has an EEZ larger than the size of India, catches 700,000 tonnes a year of tuna. More tuna is caught in Kiribati’s waters than in the waters of any other nation in the world.

In a press statement issued on Monday, the office of the president of the Kiribati government confirmed it was opening the protected zone citing the huge economic cost to Kiribati, a developing nation, of the ban.

“Similar to any Government, our decisions, as we make them, put the livelihoods of our people at the fore and have been carefully considered and agreed to as a Government,” it said.

“Our decision as a sovereign country and Government is people-centric and commensurate with holistic options for marine protection and management, economic diversification, sustainable tourism and fisheries, to promote the growth of Kiribati’s blue economy, and uplift the lives of all I-Kiribati.”

Dr Richard Jeo, Conservation International’s Asia-Pacific field division senior vice president, said that it was their “understanding that this proposal has not yet been introduced to Kiribati’s parliament.”