Marshall Islands yesterday declared its first national marine sanctuary, protecting a “pristine” expanse of tropical Pacific Ocean home to deep-sea sharks and green turtles.
Like many Pacific islands, the low-lying Marshall Islands is highly vulnerable to climate change and rising seas, which has placed “extreme pressure” on its biodiversity, the World Bank said in 2021.
The nation announced that it has banned fishing in the waters surrounding two northern isles, an area teeming with vibrant corals, rare giant clams and reclusive deep-sea sharks.
Photo: AFP / Enric Sala / National Geographic Pristine Seas
“The only way to continue benefiting from the ocean’s treasures is to protect it,” Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine said in a statement. “I am proud of our country’s first marine sanctuary, which certainly won’t be its last.”
The sanctuary lies to the east of Marshall Islands’ Bikini Atoll, which the US bombarded with experimental nuclear bombs throughout the 1940s and 1950s. It covers 48,000km2 — dwarfing Switzerland — and surrounds the uninhabited atolls of Bikar and Bokak, which are renowned green turtle nesting grounds.
“We aim to preserve the ecological integrity of this region to ensure that these two atolls remain pristine for future generations,” the country’s Marine Resources Authority said in a statement.
Conservationist Enric Sala said Marshall Islands was home to some of the healthiest marine ecosystems in the Pacific Ocean.
“This new marine sanctuary protects global biodiversity jewels,” said Sala, who founded the National Geographic Pristine Seas expedition that surveyed the atolls in 2023.
“These pristine atolls are time machines that show us what the ocean was like before humans, and what coral reefs could be in the future if we so wish,” he said.
The 2023 trip documented “little-known deep-sea communities with potentially new species of fish,” a “large abundance of vulnerable species” and “abundant deep-sea sharks.”
The Marshall Islands — population 40,000 — are a chain of coral atolls and volcanic isles lying between the Philippines and Hawaii. Its economy relies heavily on fishing.
Non-profit Global Fishing Watch estimates that at least one-third of domestic government revenue comes from tuna alone. Illegal fishing operations have regularly plundered its waters over the years.
Marshall Islands in 2011 set aside almost 2 million square kilometers for what it said was the world’s largest dedicated shark sanctuary.
Trinidad and Tobago declared a new state of emergency on Friday after authorities accused a criminal network operating in prisons across the country of plotting to kill key government officials and attack public institutions. It is the second state of emergency to be declared in the twin-island republic in a matter of months. In December last year, authorities took similar action, citing concerns about gang violence. That state of emergency lasted until mid-April. Police said that smuggled cellphones enabled those involved in the plot to exchange encrypted messages. Months of intelligence gathering led investigators to believe the targets included senior police officers,
FOREST SITE: A rescue helicopter spotted the burning fuselage of the plane in a forested area, with rescue personnel saying they saw no evidence of survivors A passenger plane carrying nearly 50 people crashed yesterday in a remote spot in Russia’s far eastern region of Amur, with no immediate signs of survivors, authorities said. The aircraft, a twin-propeller Antonov-24 operated by Angara Airlines, was headed to the town of Tynda from the city of Blagoveshchensk when it disappeared from radar at about 1pm. A rescue helicopter later spotted the burning fuselage of the plane on a forested mountain slope about 16km from Tynda. Videos published by Russian investigators showed what appeared to be columns of smoke billowing from the wreckage of the plane in a dense, forested area. Rescuers in
A disillusioned Japanese electorate feeling the economic pinch goes to the polls today, as a right-wing party promoting a “Japanese first” agenda gains popularity, with fears over foreigners becoming a major election issue. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the Sanseito Party has widened its appeal ahead of today’s upper house vote — railing against immigration and dragging rhetoric that was once confined to Japan’s political fringes into the mainstream. Polls show the party might only secure 10 to 15 of the 125 seats up for grabs, but it is
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr is to meet US President Donald Trump this week, hoping Manila’s status as a key Asian ally would secure a more favorable trade deal before the deadline on Friday next week. Marcos would be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Trump in his second term. Trump has already struck trade deals with two of Manila’s regional partners, Vietnam and Indonesia, driving tough bargains in trade talks even with close allies that Washington needs to keep onside in its strategic rivalry with China. “I expect our discussions to focus on security and defense, of course, but also
RSS