After a successful victory driving the whalers out of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has turned its sights from defending whales to protecting sharks. A Memorandum of Agreement was signed earlier this month between the direct action marine wildlife conservation organization and the Republic of Palau. This historic agreement authorizes Sea Shepherd to collaborate directly with Palau's Division of Marine Law Enforcement (DMLE) to patrol and safeguard a unique marine protected area designated as the world's first shark sanctuary. During a recent visit to Palau, Captain Paul Watson and Sea Shepherd's Chief Executive Officer Steve Roest met with His Excellency, President Johnson Toribiong of Palau, and the 16-member traditional Council of Chiefs who serve as his advisors, to sign the agreement. Under this agreement: * Sea Shepherd will—at its sole expense—send a vessel to patrol Palau's territorial waters against illegal fishing activity. * Sea Shepherd will assist the DMLE officers on board its vessel and facilitate prosecution of offenders to the fullest extent. * The relationship between Sea Shepherd and Palau is defined as a “partnership in the preservation of marine life.” “President Johnson Toribiong has led the world in taking action to protect sharks, and his establishment of a shark and marine mammal sanctuary is a call to action for other nations to defend diminishing populations of marine species. Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is honored to be working with President Toribiong and Palau's Council of Chiefs, and we are proud to be a part of protecting the incredibly beautiful and biologically important islands of the Republic of Palau,” said Captain Watson. Captain Watson and Roest, in close collaboration with Dermot Keane, founder of the conservation organization Palau Shark Sanctuary, made a proposal to President Toribiong to offer the assistance of Sea Shepherd to intervene against illegal fishing activities, particularly the practice of shark finning, within Palau's territorial waters. Keane, who signed the Memorandum of Agreement as a witness, welcomed the historic partnership with Sea Shepherd by stating, “This is a major milestone for Palau's conservation efforts and clearly sends the right message to the world: our nation is serious about the enforcement of our marine protection laws, and with the help of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, smaller nations can certainly make a big difference.” President Toribiong and Palau's Council of Chiefs all agreed their country needs the assistance of Sea Shepherd to protect Palau's spectacular, yet fragile natural marine resources. In September 2009, President Toribiong addressed the United Nations and declared Palau's territorial waters as the world's first official shark sanctuary. In August 2010, the President recognized protection of all marine mammals in the same designated sanctuary. Despite an increasing poaching problem in Palau's waters, President Toribiong has not waivered in his support for conservation. This joint effort between Palau's government and Sea Shepherd begins the next phase of President Toribiong's conservation plan: in-field enforcement. “This agreement is exemplary of a concerned government working in collaboration with a Non-Governmental Organization like Sea Shepherd. It reinforces that small island nations are at the forefront of oceanic conservation and are more willing to take matters into their own hands before it is too late to do anything about the loss of marine life and habitat,” said Roest. Sea Shepherd has a long history of working in direct collaboration with national governments to oppose poaching operations; its first such agreement was in the Galapagos Islands, where Sea Shepherd is now in its 11th year of working in partnership with the Galapagos National Park and the Ecuadorian Environmental Police to protect the waters of the Galapagos Marine Reserve. Sea Shepherd
