The study’s recommendations, which align with the current proposal of developing an offshore national fishery as part of the recently designated National Marine Sanctuary, may allow Palau to protect reef systems and the industries that rely on them, as well as traditional local lifestyles intimately linked to catching and eating seafood.

“The ocean is central to Palau’s life and customs; their seafood consumption must be maintained sustainably,” says co-author Yoshitaka Ota, Nippon Foundation-UBC Nereus Program Director of Policy, University of Washington. “The most important thing is for the people of Palau to keep engaging with the ocean, eating good fish, catching fish sustainably and protecting their way of life, tekoi ra belau — as they say in Palau. We are hoping that this study will be used for current Pacific Island Nation policy to address what they can do right now and for the future.”

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This work was supported by the Nippon Foundation. Additional co-author is Quentin Hanich, Nereus Program Principal Investigator at the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), at the University of Wollongong.

Interviews available in English, Spanish, Japanese, and French.

About the Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program

The Nereus Program, a collaboration between the Nippon Foundation and the University of British Columbia, has engaged in innovative, interdisciplinary ocean research since its inception in 2011. The program is currently a global partnership of sixteen leading marine science institutes with the aim of undertaking research that advances our comprehensive understandings of the global ocean systems across the natural and social sciences, from oceanography and marine ecology to fisheries economics and impacts on coastal communities. Visit nereusprogram.org for more information.

For further information or interview requests, please contact:

Lindsay Lafreniere

Communications Officer, Nereus Program

The University of British Columbia

[email protected]