Proposals to lock more than a million square kilometres of ocean into a vast marine protected area (MPA) have been hit by setbacks as the Austral Islands question why such an arrangement is needed. The proposals are for an area around the southernmost islands of French Polynesia to become an MPA, but the process has received far from unanimous support from the islands’ government.
Tahiti-Infos reports that the Pew-backed MPA would close waters to all fishing except inside a zone within twenty miles of the coast and some shallow water areas.
But now the mood has changed and the vision appears to be strongly in favour of an integrated marine area and Polynesian Blue Economy minister Teva Rohfritsch has instead put forward policies based on balance between resource conservation and economic development, asking what reasons there are for creating an MPA in an area where there is no fishing?
He commented that once such an MPA has been created it could cause serious problems in the future, adding that since 2002, Polynesia has already the world’s largest marine sanctuary. He has also been outspoken in his comments on the Pew Foundation, describing it as being funded by the US oil lobby.
‘Our fishing is already environmentally friendly. Since 2000 no foreign fleets are allowed in our waters,’ Environment Minister Heremoana Maamaatuaiahutapu told Tahiti-Infos.
‘Our strategy is to classify the whole EEZ area and to manage it by working with the regional co-operation of our Pacific neighbours,’ he said.
The MPA proposals now appear unlikely to go ahead now that they are not expected to make it through the Polynesian elected assembly.
