23 October 2010: Palau’s Minister of the Environment, Natural Resources and Tourism, Harry Fritz, announced the creation of a marine sanctuary for whales, dolphins and dugongs during Oceans Day, held on 23 October 2010, on the sidelines of the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 10) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Nagoya, Japan.

The sanctuary covers all of Palau’s Exclusive Economic Zone – more than 600,000 square kilometers – where “the deliberate hunting and harrassment of any marine mammals” is prohibited, said Fritz. The sanctuary complements a shark sanctuary created by Palau in 2009. [SPREP press release]