The Wisdom Of Palau's Elders

The Hartford Courant

April 25, 2007

Village elders on the tiny Pacific island nation of Palau could teach New England's commercial fishing industry and Congress a thing or three about marine conservation.

For generations, elders protected the tropical island's supply of reef fish using an age-old practice of rotating which stocks could be caught.

But by the 1980s, the elders' wisdom had been shouldered aside. A growing population, worldwide demand for seafood and destructive fishing practices started to take a toll on the island's beloved snappers and groupers, which got smaller and fewer.

In 1994 some elders pushed back, banning fishing on a small section of one local reef. Within years, islanders started to notice fish on the reef were bigger and more abundant.

The reef became famous. Soon, other villages imposed bans. Palau now protects a 460-square-mile patchwork of reefs and lagoons and has become an international destination for recreational diving. Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Indonesia followed suit. Today, scientists are confirming what Palau's village elders seemed to know: Marine preserves protect the ocean's biodiversity and shield stocks from overfishing.

Recently, California joined the movement to protect the health of oceans.

State wildlife regulators adopted a sweeping plan creating an offshore network of connected ocean preserves where fishing and other human activities will be restricted or banned. The first phase protects 1,150 square miles of offshore areas along California's central coast. Human activity will be banned from 8 percent of those areas, leaving the remaining open to limited sport and commercial fishing.

Scientists tell us that relentless overfishing could well cause the collapse of 90 percent of the world's commercial fisheries by mid-century. That goes for New England especially, where shortsighted management practices have kept many stocks teetering on the brink of exhaustion for decades.

The New England Fishery Management Council seems incapable of rising to the level of wisdom shown by Palau's village elders. By moving to establish offshore marine preserves along New England's coast, Congress will ensure the protection of the region's once-plentiful fish stocks for future generations.