Palau followed that up with the announcement in 2015 of a Marine Protected Area covering 80% of its waters. This huge, California-sized MPA took years of planning and officially came into effect at the start of 2020. In 2009, Palau made global headlines as it declared the world’s first shark sanctuary, banning all shark fishing within its entire Exclusive Economic Zone, a 600,000 sq km area (approximately the same size as France).