Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Fishing ban · Kiribati · 2015–2025

Kiribati PIPA opened to fishing

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured. Disputed
What the record lacks: 1 none on record · 6 insufficient · 1 not measured · 2 disputed See the gaps
Accounts of the harm differ
Should the area stay closed to commercial fishing?
  • Government and regulators Government of Kiribati: Announced in November 2021 that the closure would be lifted; a minister later described fishing revenue as financing household transfers and a A$1.74 billion reserve fund. Devpolicy Blog
  • International bodies IUCN World Heritage Outlook: Recorded the no-take share of the area at 3.12% in October 2025. IUCN

The Phoenix Islands Protected Area, 408,250 square kilometres of ocean, was closed to commercial fishing in 2015. In November 2021 the Government of Kiribati announced it would end the closure, and the area opened formally in 2023.

3.12%Share of the protected area that remained no-take
IUCN World Heritage Outlook, assessment dated 11 October 2025; the area had been closed to commercial fishing from 1 January 2015.

Status As of the IUCN assessment of 11 October 2025 and the IMF consultation of May 2026: the area is open to commercial fishing and the no-take share is 3.12%.

What?
A marine protected area closed to commercial fishing in 2015 was reopened to commercial fishing, formally in 2023, after the government announced the change in November 2021. Wikipedia
Where?
Phoenix Islands, Kiribati, about 11% of the country's exclusive economic zone. Wikipedia
When?
Closed 1 January 2015; reopening announced November 2021; formally opened 2023. Wikipedia
Who?
Gained
None on record
Lost
None on record
Harmed
  • Coastal fishers in South Tarawa — Reported falling catch rates and competition from purse seiners (Ansell, DevNet, July 2025).
Why?
Maritime Executive reported the closure was ended 'to boost tuna fishing'; the government's stated reasons are recorded as unverified under Unknown. Maritime Executive
How?
The 2015 closure relied on a compensation foundation set up with Conservation International and the New England Aquarium; the government announced the reopening in November 2021. Wikipedia
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

The Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) covers 408,250 square kilometres, about 11% of Kiribati's exclusive economic zone. It was closed to commercial fishing, including tuna fishing, on 1 January 2015. According to the encyclopedia entry cited, the closure rested on an assurance that a foundation set up with Conservation International and the New England Aquarium, using a 'reverse fishing licence', would compensate for the lost revenue.

Kiribati's economy depends on fishing: the International Monetary Fund's 2026 Article IV consultation put fisheries at about 40% of GDP.

In November 2021 the Government of Kiribati announced that the closure would be lifted. Maritime Executive reported the move under the headline 'Kiribati terminates giant marine protected area to boost tuna fishing'. The area was formally opened to commercial fishing in 2023.

The IUCN World Heritage Outlook, in an assessment dated 11 October 2025, reported that the no-take share of the area had fallen to 3.12%. The government's own figures for lost revenue and for the amount the compensation foundation raised were reported by regional outlets that the research did not verify, and are recorded as unverified.

  1. 20151 Jan: PIPA closed to commercial fishing, including tuna
  2. 2021Nov: Government of Kiribati announces the closure will be lifted
  3. 2023Area formally opened to commercial fishing
  4. 2025IUCN World Heritage Outlook (11 Oct) records the no-take share at 3.12%
  5. 2026IMF Article IV puts fisheries at about 40% of Kiribati's GDP (14 May)

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Did the promised compensation arrive, and how large was the loss?
Government and regulators
Government of Kiribati (as reported by PINA and SeafoodSource; according to secondary reports; not independently verified)

Said the compensation foundation raised about US$7 million and that purse-seine licence revenue lost in 2015–2021 was US$60–140 million.

PINA
Press and investigations
Regional fisheries sources (not named; according to secondary reports, not independently verified)

Reportedly found some of the government's figures inflated.

Should the area stay closed to commercial fishing?
Government and regulators
Government of Kiribati

Announced in November 2021 that the closure would be lifted; a minister later described fishing revenue as financing household transfers and a A$1.74 billion reserve fund.

Devpolicy Blog
International bodies
IUCN World Heritage Outlook

Recorded the no-take share of the area at 3.12% in October 2025.

IUCN

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • One of the world's largest marine protected areas, a World Heritage property.
    World Heritage listing and press descriptions, as reported in the sources reviewed

Recorded

  • The area, 408,250 km² and about 11% of Kiribati's exclusive economic zone, was closed to commercial fishing on 1 January 2015.
    Wikipedia
  • The reopening was announced in November 2021 and the area was formally opened in 2023.
    Wikipedia
  • The no-take share of the area had fallen to 3.12% (IUCN World Heritage Outlook, 11 October 2025).
    IUCN
  • Fisheries were about 40% of Kiribati's GDP (IMF, 14 May 2026).
    International Monetary Fund
  • At least 14 fisheries observers in the region had died or gone missing since 2015, according to SBS/PINA reporting of 13 July 2026.
  • The regional tuna fishery's sustainability certification was widened in 2024 to cover fishing with fish aggregating devices and bigeye tuna, and the purse-seine catch was a record in 2024, according to the sources reviewed.

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
No figure published.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Currency: USD · Window: 2015–2021. All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

Responses on record

  • kiribati-government (2026-09-23): A Kiribati minister wrote that fishing revenue financed transfers to households, including to older people, the unemployed and copra producers, and that a revenue-equalisation reserve fund stood at A$1.74 billion (advocate source). · Devpolicy Blog

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Area closed to commercial fishing in 2015
408,250 km²
About 11% of Kiribati's exclusive economic zone
No-take share of the area
3.12%
IUCN World Heritage Outlook, October 2025
Independent ecological evaluation
None in record
No stock or habitat assessment of the area is recorded

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
No court case

Nature

  • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
  • Disputed Should the area stay closed to commercial fishing?

Court

Figures

  • Insufficient Licence revenue loss: Government estimate for purse-seine licences, 2015–2021 total; up to about US$146 million with longline. Reported in secondary reports; not independently verified.
  • Insufficient Foundation raised: Reported amount raised by the compensation foundation; unverified.

Accounts

  • Disputed Did the promised compensation arrive, and how large was the loss?

Record

  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: the government estimated revenue lost from purse-seine licences in 2015–2021 at US$60–140 million, or up to about US$146 million including longline, and said the compensation foundation raised about US$7 million, with interest covering only running costs.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: demand for fishing in Kiribati waters fell 8% after the closure, and fishing licences were more than 70% of state revenue in 2018–2022.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: regional fisheries sources found some of the government's figures inflated.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: the compensation foundation was dissolved.

Did the harm stop?

Not applicable as a single harm: the 2015 closure was lifted from the November 2021 announcement, with formal opening in 2023.

Who paid?

Not established from verified sources: the Kiribati government's estimates of lost revenue are unverified and recorded under Unknown.

Sources

Voices on record: — Company or project✓ Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers✓ International bodies

Government and regulators

Press and investigations

International bodies

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
Terms used on this page

Institutions

IUCN Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature and its global list assessing species' risk of extinction.
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