Satellite Tech to police Rapa Nui marine reserve

Transcript

International conservationists say the cutting edge satellite surveillance tech known as "eyes on the sea"  will be employed to police the newly declared Easter Island marine reserve.

More than 300,000 square kilometres of ocean around Rapa Nui has just been declared a protected area by the Chilean government.

The idea stems from a proposal by the local Rapa Nui people working with the PEW Charitable Trust organisation to combat large scale illegal fishing in their waters.

The Director of PEW's Global Ocean Legacies, Matt Rand spoke with Koroi Hawkins about the initiative over a patchy phone line from Chile.

MATT RAND: The announcement made by Chile was an incredible announcement which will ultimately see over a million square kilometres of ocean fully protected. So it is an amazing achievement for ocean conservation not only for Chile it will also have ramifications for the rest of the world.

KOROI HAWKINS: What was it before, was there any sort of protectorate before that or is this a totally new initiative?

MR: Well we have actually been working with the community in Easter Islands since 2012. The community on Easter Islands have put forward a proposal to protect over 630 square kilometres of their ocean to the government of Chile. And the government of Chile announced their support for the Rapa Nui. The traditional people of Easter Islands proposal, that coupled with an effort in Juan Fernandez and the islands of the Dutch Enchiladas will reach a protection of over a million square kilometres which Chile announced just two days ago.

KH: And what are the conditions of this protectorate can the native people still fish, what are some of the conditions?

MR: Yes the native people have worked on this proposal for over a year. What they ultimately put to the government of Chile was a proposal where the inner zone around the island they would continue to fish in their cultural and traditional ways. That would be an area of about 90,000 square kilometres for traditional and cultural fishing. And this additional area of 631 thousand square kilometres would be a fully protected marine reserve for ocean conservation.

KH: And what has been the reason for this are there concerns about overfishing or any such thing?

MR: Yes they are concerned about global overfishing especially, and they are concerned about illegal fishing. They have high levels of fishing... and they talk about when they fish at night time, seeing the lights on the horizon. So that was part of the rationale for developing the proposal that they have put forth to the government.

KH: Now one of the biggest problems with marine protected areas is enforcing or policing these waters and for such a huge area what kind of work is being done to ensure that they are well policed?

MR: So there has been a lot done to learn how to police these waters once they have been established as marine reserves. One of the newest initiatives is the initiative of the PEW Charitable Trust, it is the "Eyes On The Seas Project" using satellites to monitor the worlds oceans especially starting with these marine reserves. The Marine reserves are the best place to start using this type of technology because they should be a clean slate. It is an easy thing to spot. When there is some illegal activity going on in a fully protected marine reserve. You shouldn't have a commercial fishing vessel unless they have filed some sort of transit plan. So it makes for an easy discovery of illicit activity taking place.

KH: And you have trialled this " Eyes On The Sea Project" in other areas, the Marshalls I understand and some other places?

MR: The eyes on the sea project has been looking at a number of different situations and has started trialling it. They are looking at areas around Pitcairn which the governance of the United Kingdom recently announced their intentions to create that marine reserve as well, which is the worlds largest marine reserves when fully enacted.

KH: Now you said this is not only a big deal for Easter Island and the surrounding communities but for the rest of the world what did you mean by that?

MR: Sorry our oceans have been significantly depleted from a number of fisheries and so these marine reserves often serve as regenerative zones for the rest of the ocean. They give fish a place to reproduce unmolested and marine wildlife at the bottom of the ocean all the way to the birds can have a healthy ocean environment.