AS the sun sets over Tuvalu, children shriek in the lagoon of the main atoll – Funafuti.
This is the way life has been in the Pacific for as long as people can remember.
But sea levels in the lagoon are rising and the waves have started to gnaw away at the coast – slowly, surely – in an inevitable march which may see the world’s and fourth smallest nation sink and disappear.
A modern-day Atlantis under siege from coastal erosion and salt water intrusion.
What happens if Tuvalu’s nine atolls descend into the blue Pacific, swamped by rising waves or washed away by deadly storms? Once uninhabitable or invisible, who will own the 900,000 square kilometres of ocean between Hawaii and Australia?
The United Nations estimates Tuvalu’s tuna to be worth an annual USD41million – that’s about 36,000 tonnes of Skipjack, Yellowfin and Bigeye Tuna.
Tuvalu operates a single vessel in conjunction with a South Korean company with most of the stocks being harvested by international fishing vessels.
Current laws governing the Exclusive Economic Zone and the borders of maritime nations refer to specific physical reference points from which to determine the area of sovereignty.
Those physical points are generally islands or atolls which can sustain life.
Sustainability of life on remote islets and atolls is becoming increasingly difficult on Tuvalu, Kiribati and other Pacific countries.
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