An oceans' expert is backing the Kiribati Government planned new approach to managing the Phoenix Island Protected Area.
The government wants to allow the return of commercial fishing because it says the PIPA, as its called, is costing it money.
But the Kiribati Government says it is not abandoning its environmental obligations but what to use Marine Spatial Planning as the management tool.
Don Wiseman spoke with Hugh Govan, who specialises in ocean governance and helped draft the Pacific Oceanscape, and asked him if enormous marine reserves like the PIPA have value.
Phoenix Islands Protected Area Photo: Supplied/ Dr Randi Rotjan - CCBY-SA3.0
