Niue protects 100% of its oceans, opens for dive business

Niue has announced plans to protect 100% of its ocean, an area about the size of Vietnam, against illegal fishing and the effects of climate change.

Previously, in 2020, the coral atoll committed to safeguarding 40% of its waters; now it will take measures to defend all 317,500 sq km (122,000 sq miles) following the lead of neighbouring Cook Islands.
The new policy has also seen the creation of a marine park, including an area for scientific studies and a conservation zone.

“The ocean is everything to us. It’s what defines us,” said Dalton Tagelagi, premier of the island.

Niue’s waters are the only place where the katuali, a sea snake, lives in the honeycomb of underwater caves. Humpback whales migrate there from Antarctica to give birth, spinner dolphins swim near the coast, and Niue has the world’s highest density of grey reef sharks.

But illegal fishing is a serious issue in the Pacific Ocean and Niue is also experiencing the impact of the climate crisis with warmer sea temperatures leading to coral bleaching and extreme weather damaging the environment and infrastructure.

The sand from some of our coves has been washed away due to frequent high and rough seas and our coral is still recovering after Cyclone Heta hit Niue in 2004,” said Niue premier, Dalton Tagelagi, reports The Guardian.

As part of the new policy in effect from April, Niue, a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand, has also created the Niue Nukutuluea multiple-use marine park split into zones, including the pristine Beveridge Reef, an uninhabited atoll 120 miles from the island where fishing is banned but scientific studies are allowed, with a three-mile zone for traditional canoe fishing, sport fishing and scuba diving; a general ocean zone for foreign commercial fishing; and a conservation zone where vessels can pass through but not stop. Those caught breaching Niue’s marine park laws and fishing illegally can have their vessel and catch seized and receive a fine of up to NZ$500,000. The government can also bring harsher penalties.

The marine park is monitored by satellite surveillance and the help of neighbouring Tonga, Samoa, the Cook Islands and the New Zealand air force.

Policing the newly protected waters will be an enormous challenge, said Alanna Matamaru Smith, a marine biologist based in the Cook Islands. “Monitoring a large area of space with little resources for Pacific nations is most definitely an issue. We hope that with time, technology will improve, minimising those issues around illegal activity,” she said.

Despite pledges from more than 50 countries to protect 30% of the world’s ocean by 2030, just over 6% are marine protected areas, with about 2% within highly protected “no-take” zones. It can also be difficult for smaller, lower-income nations to commit to wide-scale protection. Palau announced in 2020 that it would protect 80% of its EEZ. But in an effort to boost its economy after tourism nosedived during the pandemic, Palau is reportedly considering reopening 50% of its protected zone to commercial fishing.

Premier Tagelagi is aware that turning 100% of Niue’s ocean into a protected reserve is ambitious, but says “We are doing our part to protect what we can for our future generations, just as our forefathers did for us,” he said.

There are plans to increase awareness in Niue too, especially among younger people. “Most Niueans have never swum outside the reef,” The Guardian reported Evan Barclay as saying. Barclay is co-founder of Niue’s only scuba diving school, Niue Blue. “Generationally they have been taught to be wary of the ocean.”

Premier Tagelagi said. “We have to ensure our reefs and corals remain to provide a healthy ecosystem and continue to create a food source for our people.”

"“We are doing our part to protect what we can for our future generations, just as our forefathers did for us,”