The Kiribati government has opened its UNESCO World Heritage marine park to commercial fishing in order to bolster revenue.
Photo: AFP / Christoph Gerigk / Biosphoto
The Phoenix Island Protection Area, which was established in 2006 and is more than 400,000 square kilometers in size, was closed for fishing in 2015.
The government said since 2015, this led to a revenue loss from fishing licences of almost $US150 million.
It said this loss went against the development needs of the country.
It said its Kiribati Vision for 20 years was people-centric and so Kiribati efforts to protect biodiversity needs to strike a balance to enable actions that also uplift the livelihoods of the people.
In a statement, the government also said it rejected assumptions that its decision to open the marine reserve was being influenced by external parties, saying that was inaccurate and hypocritical, driven by what it called 'neo-colonial precepts'.