KiribatiLocation: The capital,Tarawa, is about halfwaybetween Hawaii andAustralia in the CentralPacific Ocean.

Population: 103,248.Nearly 99 percent areMicronesian.

Land mass: 33 coralatolls that reach nomore than 6 feet abovesea level.

Languages: I-Kiribati,English (the official language)

Government: Parliamentary system

Year of independence: 1979; a formerBritish colony

By Christopher Pala

TARAWA, Kiribati —For the past five years,two prominent U.S. con-servation organizationsand the president of thisPacific island nation haveclaimed to have pulled offone of the biggestachievements in conser-vation — the creation ofone of the world’s largestmarine reserves that banall fishing.

The 158,500-square-mile reserve, known asthe Phoenix IslandsProtected Area, would bea major accomplishmentin preventing the world’slast major population ofskipjack tuna from be-coming as depleted asthose of the Atlantic andIndian oceans, fisheriesscientists say.

But only 3 percent ofthe sanctuary, which isabout the size of Califor-nia, has been closed tocommercial fishing since

its creation in 2008around eight uninhabitedislands that belong toKiribati (pronouncedKeer-ree-bahss), accord-ing to the reserve’s man-agement plan.

“While the world hashailed Kiribati for itsconservation efforts, itseems the reserve hasonly served to bankrollSpanish tuna fleets fish-ing in its waters,” saidSeni Nabou, Pacific polit-ical adviser for Green-peace’s ocean preserva-tion branch.

97 percent fishingFishing has increased

to unsustainable levels inthe reserve as tuna priceshave soared, scientistssay. According to a reportcommissioned by eightPacific nations — Kiribatiand Micronesia, Mar-shall Islands, Nauru,Palau, Papua New Guin-ea, Solomon Islands andTuvalu — some 50,000

tons of tuna were takenout of the reserve in 2012.

In an interview lastmonth at his office inTarawa, Kiribati’s cap-ital, President AnoteTong acknowledged thatcommercial fishing isstill taking place in97 percent of the refugebecause no agreementhas been reached withConservation Interna-tional, one of the largestU.S. environmentalgroups, on payment forlost fishing revenues.

“We are still decidingon the compensation,”Tong said.

Yet the 61-year-oldTong, who has garneredinternational attentionfor claiming his low-lyingisland nation’s 103,248inhabitants will becomeenvironmental refugeesby 2050 as a result ofsea-level rising fromclimate change, continuesto describe the reserve asa “fully protected marinepark” that is “off-limits tofishing,” and his nation’s“great gift to the world.”

On its website, Bos-

ton’s New EnglandAquarium, which helpsadminister the reserve,also declares that theremote archipelago is“now safe from thethreats of commercialfishing.” Until lastmonth, ConservationInternational’s websitemade the same claim.

Money needed for goalCurrent plans, devel-

oped with the assistanceof Conservation Interna-tional, a nonprofit groupin Arlington, Va., call forincreasing the no-takearea in the reserve to28 percent by 2015. Toreach that goal, the groupsays it would have toraise $13.5 million by theend of 2014. Closing theentire reserve wouldrequire at least $50 mil-lion, according to GregStone, ConservationInternational’s ChiefScientist for Oceans.

“Creating marine re-serves is like good cook-ing,” said Stone, whocame up with the idea forthe Phoenix Islandsreserve after a diving trip

there in 2000. “It takestime, you have to be pa-tient.”

Jay Nelson, who re-cently retired as directorof Pew’s Global OceanLegacy program inWashington D.C., saysit’s unrealistic to thinkConservation Interna-tional could raise $50million because manydonors believe the re-serve is already a no-takezone.

“CI needs to admit thatthey won’t be able toraise that kind of mon-

ey,” Nelson warned.

A poor countryKiribati is a poor coun-

try with few naturalresources. Annual per-capita income is just$3,300, according to theUnited Nations. Lastyear, revenue from fish-ing licenses accountedfor half of the nation’snational budget of$120 million.

The reserve’s closure“would be most detri-mental to the economicinterest of the Kiribatigovernment,” said JulioMoron, director of theSpanish tuna fleet associ-ation in Madrid.

But several fisheriesexperts say Kiribati couldclose the entire reservewithout any revenue losssince it makes up onlyabout 12 percent of thenation’s exclusive eco-nomic zone of 1.3 millionsquare miles. Commer-cial fishermen, they say,could easily fish aroundthe reserve.

John Hampton, theregion’s chief fisheriesscientist for the OceanicFisheries Program inNew Caledonia, said hewouldn’t expect manyfishing operations toleave Kirabati “just be-cause they’re losing 12percent of it.”

At the same time, Te-buroro Tito, Kiribati’sex-president and a mem-ber of the political oppo-sition, said Tong shouldimmediately close thereserve “to salvage thecountry’s honor.”

Christopher Pala is afreelance writer. Hisreporting was funded bythe Ocean Foundation, aWashington, D.C.,nonprofit that supportsconservation of the world’soceans. E-mail:foreigndesk@sfchronicle.com

Justin McManus / The AGE

In 2012, revenue from fishing licenses accounted for half of Kiribati’s national budget of $120 million.The 33 atolls in the Pacific that make up the impoverished country have few natural resources.

MARINE RESERVES

Kiribati isn’ta sustainablerole model

John Blanchard / The Chronicle

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Phoenix Islands

Sources: CIA World Factbook, Wikipedia

Trivia: One of the Phoenix Islands —Nikumaroro, also called Gardner Island— is the possible location where famedaviator Amelia Earhart crash-landedduring her ill-fated final flight in 1937.

Marine reservesA growing number of marine reserves have been createdthat ban fishing in an area equivalent to the size of Mex-ico. Five more giant “no-take” reserves are currently onthe drawing board. The largest reserves include:

U.S. Marine Na-tional Monument:In 2006, then-President George W.Bush designatedsome 140,000square milesaround the North-western HawaiianIslands.

Chagos Islands: In2010, the UnitedKingdom creat-ed a 247,000square-milemarine reservearound theseislands in theIndian Ocean.

Coral Sea:In 2012,Australiacreated a194,000square-milereserve of itsnortheastcoast.

— Christopher Pala

A8 | Friday, June 14, 2013 | SFChronicle.com and SFGate.com GXXXXX•

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