KOROR STATE GOVERNMENT MARINE TOUR GUIDE ... - C3

FISHING LICENSES
• Koror State Public Law No. K4-68-95 (which amends in its entirety Koror State
Public Law No. K3-42-90, effective as of January 10, 1990, requiring that
licenses be required for all commercial fishing in Koror State waters) This
Koror State Public Law, effective as of approximately June 13, 1995, requires that
licenses be required for all commercial fishing in Koror State waters and that different
licenses be obtained for each classification of fishing (i.e. clamming, shelling,
lobstering, netting, spearing, trolling, bottom line fishing, or long line fishing).
Licenses are required to fill out detailed applications and then the Governor (or
designee) is to review and evaluate the application and issue a license only when it
is determined that the issuance will not unduly deplete, endanger or harm the
resources of Koror State. The law also provides the following monthly fees for
respective fishing licenses: (a) for spear gun, line or hook (including long line, bottom
line, reel casting or trolling, but excluding fishing for lobster, crab or other
crustaceans), $25.00; (b) for lobster, land crab or other crustaceans or shellfish,
$10.00; (c) for sea cucumber, kelp, seaweed and clams, $10.00; and for reef fishing
with nets, $10.00. For non-commercial fishing by non-Palauan citizens, the annual
fee is $100.00, or $10.00 per month, excluding net fishing, which costs $50.00 per
month. With respect to fish sales, this law prohibits all persons or entities from
purchasing fish unless the seller exhibits to the buyers his/her license, and all buyers
are required to provide written numbered receipts to sellers. Both sellers and buyers
are required to maintain records of each transaction for official inspection. The
following activities, among others, are also prohibited under this law: (1) spear fishing
with a spear or projectile powered by compressed gas or by any other explosive
mechanism; (2) fishing with the assistance of any explosive substance or any
harmful substance or poison; (3) fishing using any net with mesh “smaller than three
inches on any side of the hole”; (4) commercial fishing “within the reef by foreign
licensee or any company with foreign partnership or joint venture”; (5) drag and drift
net fishing both inside and outside the reef except for the purpose of bait collection;
(6) fishing using any net that is moved by any vessel; (7) fishing using any form of
mechanically compressed air or other breathing apparatus; (8) receiving, buying,
transporting, storing, using, eating, or selling any fish obtained in violation of this law;
(9) fishing of any nature within one mile of the shore line of either Ngemelis or
Dmasch Island; (10) fishing for trochus at any time except during the trochus season
mandated by the Republic of Palau, unless further restricted by Koror State; and (11)
processing trochus in any area except the western pier of T-Dock from the gas
station to the tip of the pier, the area of Ice-Box Park between the sewage treatment
plant and the end of the road at BMDC, the filled land on the opposite side of the
causeway from Ngetmeduch Island, or any other area identified by the Governor.
Additionally, any violator shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and may be punished by
incarceration not to exceed ninety (90) days and a fine of at least fifty dollars
($50.00), but not to exceed one hundred dollars ($100.00), and/or also be liable for
civil penalties in the form of $500.00 for the first violation and $1,000 for each
subsequent violation, and the forfeiture to Koror of all fish (or the fair market value
thereof) obtained in violation of the Act, and all vehicles, boats, engines, scales,
spears, nets, lines, tackle, and other equipment used to engage in fishing or
receiving, selling, buying, transporting, storing, preparing or using of the fish obtained
in violation of the Act. Violators shall also be liable for costs (including reasonable
attorney costs) incurred by Koror State in enforcing the law.
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