The Pacific island nation of Palau is home to pristine waters and diverse marine life but it's now struggling to protect this bounty. Ally Taiwan is willing to help.
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00:00Whenever 35-year-old government worker Dustin Blesom has time, he takes his boat out to
00:07sea around his island home, Palau.
00:10For Blesom and generations of Palauans before him, fishing this bountiful part of the West
00:15Pacific is an integral part of life here, a hobby that helps put food on his family's
00:20table.
00:22But he knows the future of these waters is not guaranteed.
00:27I would like my kids to grow up and experience the same thing I have.
00:32Now like today compared to many years ago, it's different.
00:37Everybody owns a boat, everybody owns a fishing line.
00:42Palauans like Blesom are facing a fishing dilemma.
00:45Some 340 small islands here in the South West Pacific make up the country Palau.
00:51By population it's one of the smallest in the world with just 18,000 people living here.
00:57But Palau's exclusive economic zone covers more than 600,000 square kilometres of Pacific
01:03Ocean, with some of the most biodiverse coral reefs in the world, home to grouper, snapper
01:09and tuna.
01:10For nearly 10 years, 80% of these waters have been off-limits to fishing, but that soon
01:16could change.
01:21President Sir Angle Whipps Jr, entering his second term in office, wants to open up his
01:26country's waters to fishing, diversifying Palau's tourism-dependent economy and giving
01:31his people access to more affordable seafood.
01:34It's an issue dividing the nation.
01:36Opponents say that the work of the last decade to rebuild marine resources could be undone.
01:41We were working on putting all the registration information.
01:45Diplomatic ally and fellow island nation Taiwan believes it has a solution to opening up fishing
01:52sustainably.
01:53They're hoping to fix automatic identification systems on to Palau's fishing boats.
01:59So we can see like every boat's activities in the coastal areas and the second thing
02:05is that it comes with a geofencing feature which we can lay down all the conservation
02:11areas or the protective areas in the coastal areas.
02:18Illegal fishing and incursions coming from outside Palau are also becoming a headache
02:22for authorities here.
02:24There's been an uptick in unexplained fishing equipment and Chinese research vessels entering
02:28Palau's exclusive economic zone or EEZ.
02:32You know we're a long ways from China, but to have ridges within our EEZ and on our continental
02:42shelf that have Chinese names on them because of those research vessels to me is a threat
02:47to our territorial boundaries.
02:53For President Whips, activity like this is part of Chinese intimidation of his country
02:58for recognising the sovereignty of Taiwan which Beijing says is part of its territory.
03:03Despite pressure from China to drop diplomatic ties with Taipei, Palau says it will stick
03:08by Taiwan and face up to Chinese intimidation.
03:12But that it needs international help.
03:15Taiwan has its own experience fending off Chinese intimidation, with China Coast Guard
03:19boats increasingly entering its territorial waters, knowledge it is now sharing with ally
03:25Palau.
03:27Maritime security issues or Coast Guard patrol skills or programmes is a common interest
03:36for all the island countries.
03:37Of course we have several island country allies, so we can always take from our own
03:46experience because we have a very comprehensive programme in our Coast Guard and our Coast
03:53Guard is willing, is always willing to cooperate in that front.
04:00Life here in Palau is inseparable from the ocean that surrounds it, a coexistence with
04:04nature that has developed over centuries.
04:07But Palauans are now confronting the biggest challenges these pristine waters have faced
04:12in decades, as the geopolitical turmoil swirling around the region closes in on these tropical
04:18islands.
04:20Alex Chen and Rick Lowatt in Karoor, Palau for Taiwan Plus.