Te Ipukarea Society was recently invited to French Polynesia to participate in an event known as “Te Reo O Te Moana”, the voice of the ocean. It was a gathering of representatives from the Pacific Islands, Aotearoa and Australia, to launch an urgent call to action for the protection of the Moana Nui o Kiva, to be delivered to the United Nations Oceans Conference in France, in June this year. The event was hosted at the Presidential Palace of French Polynesia.
Kelvin Passfield represented the Society at the meeting, held on 28th March, and participated in a panel discussion on “Artisanal fishing, food resilience and marine conservation”. The organisers particularly wanted to hear about the Cook Islands experience in establishing 50 nautical mile (nm) or approximately 93km protection zones for each of the 15 islands of the Cook Islands. There is no industrial fishing or deep seabed mining allowed in these zones, and they are reserved for artisanal and charter boat fishing.
