Palau creates world's first shark sanctuary

By: shannond | September 24th, 2009 at 10:43pm

"The tiny Pacific nation of Palau is creating the world's first shark sanctuary, a biological hotspot to protect great hammerheads, leopard sharks, oceanic whitetip sharks and more than 130 other species fighting extinction in the Pacific Ocean.

But with only one boat to patrol 240,000 square miles (621,600 square kilometers) of Palau's newly protected waters -- including its exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, that extends 200 miles (320 kilometers) from its coastline -- enforcement of the new measure could be almost like swimming against the tide.

Palau's president, who is to announce the news to the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, acknowledges the difficulty of patrolling ocean waters nearly the size of Texas or France with a single boat."
by The Associated Press

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