Palau ties up with Taiwan company to advance marine ecotourism

By Pacific Island Times News Staff

Koror—A conservation and research agency has tapped a Taiwanese company to enhance Palau’s brand as a premier marine ecotourism destination.

The Palau International Coral Reef Center has signed a memorandum of understanding with Taiwan’s BlueTrend to collaborate on showcasing the Pacific island nation’s rich marine biodiversity, particularly among Taiwanese visitors.

Palau is famous for its pristine beaches and crystal-clear turquoise waters, which attract divers and other visitors interested in water recreation.

Other iconic attractions include Jellyfish Lake, secret white sand coves and Rock Islands, which consist of mushroom-shaped limestone islets covered in lush vegetation.

The reef center, primarily a research entity, also supports Palau’s sustainable tourism and marine-focused ecotourism.

ADVERTISEMENT

BlueTrend specializes in linking travelers with unique destinations while promoting responsible tourism and ocean stewardship.

Leading global environmental tourism, Palau implements the mandatory Palau Pledge, which requires visitors to sign a passport promise to protect its ecosystem.

Palau prohibits toxic sunscreens and has established vast marine sanctuaries, which are among the components of the Sustainable Tourism Strategy 2025–2028.

Founded in 2017, BlueTrend has undertaken numerous projects to advance public awareness and knowledge of the marine environment across the Chinese-speaking region.

Its work includes publishing marine biology guidebooks, implementing citizen-science campaigns, and producing audiovisual and multimedia content, such as underwater documentaries and popular science articles, and obtaining the Social Innovation Certification from the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan.

The collaboration between BlueTrend and PICRC, supported by the Taiwan Ocean Affairs Council, will focus on developing a citizen-science campaign that encourages Taiwanese divers visiting Palau to take photos of marine organisms and upload them to an online platform.

The campaign, which started last month and continues through March 2026, invites participants to submit their photos to two competitions—Friends of Palau and Star of the Reef—both designed to foster appreciation for Palau’s rich marine biodiversity.

The platform will incorporate a trained AI that reliably identifies photographed species, creating an accessible public database of marine life in Palau.

The reef center will select the winners of Star of the Reef, and all collected images will be available for its research and data purposes, directly contributing to the scientific understanding of Palau’s marine environment.

In 2021, it launched the Marine Citizen Scientist Sea Life Database, which has since collected around 21,000 photographs and continues to grow, intending to become a significant database of marine species across the Pan-Pacific region.

Similarly, the collaboration with PICRC aims to establish an image and data repository for Palau that will become a vital resource, with future potential for multilingual access, to encourage participation from all tourists visiting the country.

Beyond the citizen-science campaign, the project will also promote the Palau Aquarium to Taiwanese tourists.

The reef center said the initiative seeks to enable visitors to gain a deeper understanding of Palau’s marine ecosystems, their value to the community and the importance of protecting them.

In its commitment to supporting the growth of ecotourism in Palau, BlueTrend will also promote other Palauan businesses—such as local product makers, gift shops, and land-based tour operators—to Taiwanese tourists, highlighting those recognized for their responsible and sustainable practices.

Subscribe to

our monthy

digital edition