Addressing national leaders gathered at the United Nations General Assembly Sebastian Anefal, the Federated States of Micronesia’s Foreign Minister reiterated the call made on 23 September by Palau’s Vice President, Sandra Pierantozzi for a moratorium on deep sea bottom trawling.
“The region of the Pacific contains literally thousands of seamounts, which scientists are finding to be extremely rich in biodiversity, holding great potential value to future generations,” Anefal declared. “Yet, short-sightedly, too many are dragging trawl nets over these deep-ocean areas, unknowing and uncaring of the damage they cause to the seabed below.” In her statement, Pierantozzi noted that “this technique entails dragging heavy equipment along the seabed, completely destroying established coral, sponge, and related communities that have taken centuries to develop. We are a culture of fishing people and find this practice unacceptable.”
Watch the UN webcasts of their speeches:
Sebastian Anefal, Federated States of Micronesia (for relevant part of speech, fast forward to 6.45 minutes)
Sandra Pierantozzi, Republic of Palau (for relevant part of speech, fast forward to 13.05 minutes) See also:
