Australia News Network. Feb. 6, 2014
Palau's President Tommy Remengesau Jr. has declared the Pacific nation will become a marine sanctuary, where no commercial fishing will take place.
Mr Remengesau has told a UN oceans conference Palau's 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone will be a "100 per cent marine sanctuary", and commercial operations will be banned within the Pacific nation's territorial waters.
"We have no choice – the ocean is our way of life," he said.
"It's our livelihood, it's our culture, it's our economy – I always say the economy is our environment and the environment is our economy."