This month, the Republic of the Marshall Islands is celebrating the first anniversary of the creation of the world’s largest shark sanctuary. The sanctuary is almost two million square kilometers (768,547 sq miles) in the central Pacific Ocean where no shark fishing is allowed and selling of shark products is prohibited.
There are large fines for anyone who violates the laws of the sanctuary, ranging from US$25,000 to US$250,000.
In the following video from Pew Environment Group, Tony deBrum, Minister in Assistance to the President, explains that the nation has “generated income from the law and we have made believers out of those who thought that it would not be enforceable.”
Watch the video to learn more about this success story.
Copyright © 2012 by Marine Science Today, a publication of Marine Science Today LLC.
