Reverse Fishing License - In Defence of PIPA

 

Reverse Fishing License - In Defence of PIPA

15th June 2022

Betero Kautum

Recently, PIPA has come into contention again as President Maamau’s government has seeked to repeal the no-fishing mandate in the area. This is of particular note as the PIPA has been identified by UNESCO and World Heritage Convention as a key migration and breeding spot for many nomadic marine animals in the Pacific Ocean region and contain a level of biodiversity integral to the surrounding ecosystem. 

Our government’s repeal of the “no-take” policy in the area is an abandonment of Kiribati's commitment to environmentalism and against climate change, a commitment that our small island nation facing the plight of rising sea levels should be steadfast in. It has been rightly criticised by many environmentalist groups and will do nothing but cause international embarrassment. As former president Tong said, “this is nothing but a disappointment.”  

Many proponents of the revocation of PIPA has argued for it on grounds of economic benefits. However, since the early stages in the creation and development of PIPA, Former-President Tong has acknowledged the importance of fishing licensing for the economic growth of Kiribati. 

Therefore, in an inventive and ingenious move, he had also created a system of reverse fish licenses where much of the interests earned from the PIPA endowment, funded by donations from international organizations and other sources, are used to pay for these reverse licenses which will go to compensate Kiribati for lost revenues suffered from restricting fishing licenses in PIPA. The problem isn’t the lack of funds, but the government’s incompetence in utilizing and investing them into the key strategic assets that will actually bring prosperity. 

Former respected president Anote Tong has also said: “I have retired, it is up to my party, the BKM, to work with other members of the Manaeba to figure out how to make reverse fishing licenses commercially viable and to save the PIPA.”

“It’s a huge blow for conservation but I think it’s a much bigger blow to our credibility as a nation,” he said. “The ability for any people to have any confidence in working with Kiribati like this in the future is going to be really diminished and that’s a real shame because there are very important partnerships that could be developed with Kiribati that have PIPA as the centrepiece”.

The TKB’s promises are just that, promises. They aren’t going to be fulfilled nor will prosperity be brought to the people. This is merely President Maamau and his party’s vie for power, leveraging their relationship with China to benefit themselves politically and financially.