HOME to thriving coral reefs, some 500 species of fish, and bird breeding grounds, the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) sits in the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Hawaii and Australia. It is a living example of how marine resources can be preserved without harming the economies that depend on them. The size of California, PIPA is a place that Greg Stone calls “one of the last wilderness areas.” The vice president of marine programs at the New England Aquarium, Stone has spent years working with the government of Kiribati, a nation of equatorial islands, to create the marine sanctuary. Kiribati doubled the size of PIPA in January, turning it into the Earth's largest marine protected area. It offers scientists the chance to study a healthy, teeming marine ecosystem. To maintain PIPA, Kiribati's government has agreed to restrict fishing inside the protected area's 158,000 square miles, which makes up about 12 percent of the nation's exclusive economic zone, the ocean area that Kiribati controls. Restricting fishing is a sacrifice. Kiribati's waters are a rich source of tuna and other fish. And the government earns income by charging licensing fees to foreign fishing fleets from the United States, Korea, and other countries. Up to 40 percent of government revenues can come from these fees, according to researchers from the Australian National University. But rather than living with the revenue loss, Kiribati will get the estimated amount of the foregone fees from an endowment fund created by Conservation International, a Virginia nonprofit that finds innovative ways to protect the environment. The endowment will also help pay for the management costs of maintaining PIPA. Stone and a team of lawyers, an economist, and a marine policy expert recently visited Kiribati to negotiate the details with local officials. These include figuring out the size of the endowment fund as well as how much compensation will be given for lost fishing fees. Governing structures also have to be created to manage PIPA's finances and upkeep. Stone says that other countries are involved, including New Zealand, which is investing funds to rid Kiribati's islands of cats, rabbits, and rats. Brought by ship from other places, these nonnative animals have been preying on the native bird population. A marine world success, PIPA is also an important example of the kind of creativity and international cooperation that are needed to protect all of the Earth's natural resources. __
