| Description |
1 online resource (streaming video file) (28 min. 6 sec.) ; 170437063 bytes |
| Summary |
Pacific Blue Fin tuna have been fished to within an inch of their existence. The sleek, bullet shaped fish are now at parlous 3 or 4% of their peak populations and yet demand for them has never been higher and the fishing fleets pursuing them have never been quite so powerful and relentless. Most of the top quality catch heads to Japan and sushi and sashimi restaurants, the market so hot that last year one big Blue Fin sold for one million dollars.Is it any wonder the Blue Fin is being pursued, even when the chase takes boats in and out of national bounds and sees them deploy some devastating practices - scooping up entire schools of fish, cutting a swathe through other species that are simply cast aside as bycatch.Will the Blue Fin and its relatives the Yellow Fin and Big Eye survive the onslaught? Will future human generations inhabit a world without wild tuna?Well if a little island paradise in the Pacific called Palau has anything to with it tuna - and many other Pacific natural wonders - will live on.East of the Philippines, well north of Indonesia and with nothing but hundreds of kilometres of wide blue ocean for a neighbour, Palau is determined to protect its own subsistence fishing interests and its pristine reefs; waters and wildlife that make it an international eco-tourist hotspot.So the president's drawing up plans to make the 200 nautical miles of ocean surrounding it - about 630 thousand square kilometers - a no-go zone for international fishing fleets."Palau is so fragile and it is so beautiful that you just have to take the responsible action and minimise the risk that would destroy all of this for our children and future children". - Tommy Remengasau, Jnr., President, Palau.Remengesau admits that this will be a tough fight against powerful forces, both locally and internationally. But Palau has established an international reputation for taking a brave lead on conservation. It was the first country in the world, in 2009, to declare a shark sanctuary to try and end the practice of shark finning for Asian markets. Nine other countries have followed and some top restaurants in China and Japan have taken shark fin soup off their menus.In this breath-takingly beautiful and important Foreign Correspondent, reporter Dominique Schwartz takes us from the extraordinary natural enchantment of Palau's Jellyfish Lake, to close quarters encounters with sharks and some of Palau's striking fish species. She also goes on patrol on the Australia-supplied vessel trying to keep predatory fishing fleets at bay.It's a practical battle at sea, and a virtual war as well, as fishing firms deploy sophisticated satellite technology and high-tech fish attractors called FADs to make their assault on tuna stocks ever more efficient and focussed |
| Event |
Broadcast 2014-09-02 at 20:00:00 |
| Notes |
Classification: NC |
| Subject |
Ecotourism -- Economic aspects.
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Fishery management, International.
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Fishing -- Government policy.
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Jellyfishes.
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Sharks.
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Wildlife conservation.
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Palau.
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| Form |
Streaming video
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| Author |
Schwartz, Dominique, host
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Hurry, Glenn, contributor
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Keane, Dermot, contributor
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Kloulechad, Jim, contributor
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Malsol, Nannette, contributor
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Remengesau, Tommy, contributor
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Willmore, Allan, contributor
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