“We are committed to ensuring that this marine biodiversity is protected,” Celestino Barreto de Cunha, then director of fisheries management for Timor-Leste’s government has said.

But as the words flow across hotel meeting rooms around the world, a very different reality is taking place in the rich, so called protected waters off the south coast of Timor-Leste. And it is a government green light that has enabled the situation.

 As of October 2016, an informed source said fifteen large fishing boats owned by the Chinese company Pintang have been operating with permission from the Ministry of Estanislau in Timor-Leste’s waters.

The vessels are freely catching shark (over 840 tonnes – some listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Redlist), turtles (over 100 reports – all protected worldwide) and cetaceans (whales and dolphins - unknown number- all protected).

 The source, who has connections with the government and conservation parties, said: “The boat’s tracking devices (SPOT) were disabled soon after deployment so Timor-Leste has not been able to track where they have been fishing. They are unloading now at Vemasse. Why? Why not Com or Dili where there are Port Authorities and Marine Police?”

The source added each catch was being offloaded directly onto a mother ship, rather than land, where Timor-Leste law stipulates it must be done so 20 per cent can be sold domestically.

 The source also questioned why the government had “only” charged USD$350,000 to license the 15 vessels to “destroy the fishing grounds on the south, take away the food security of the people, and destroy the developing tourism industry?”

 “Surely the company should be charge with a criminal activity, with each offense meaning a penalty of up to USD500,000 each  - it’s in the law?”

 In 2016 Timor-Leste became the first country in Asia to protect its entire shark species.

This milestone was hailed as a major achievement for the country, which has been listed as having some of the world’s richest marine waters in the world by Conservation International.

The landmark conservation move included the listing of 19 new species to the country's Marine Protected Species list – including all species of sharks, dugongs, sea turtles, whales, dolphins, both oceanic and reef manta rays. At the time was seen as a visionary step that showed “clearly that it understood that the decisions it made today would be felt by its children.”

Of the government’s efforts, Trudiann Dale, the Timor-Leste Country Director of Conservation International told the Guardian in August 2016: "With each study, we discover something new within Timor-Leste's magnificent biodiversity, making it even more critical to protect marine life here.”

According to the source, such is the backflip from the government, that in order to make fishing easier for Pintang, it has proposed to change the protected species list to remove most of the marine species from the list.

The comments come as Chris Cocke, the CEO of the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO), questioned on Tuesday Timor-Leste’s and

Pacific Island’s commitment to conservation and sustainable tourism, saying “there’s been a lot of talk about ‘sustainable tourism’ in recent years. But what does sustainable tourism actually mean?”

 According to Cocke, “the protection of our natural environment” remains key to long-term success, with “much work to be done.”

 A study in 2009 undertaken by Timor-Leste scientists and Australian Institute of Marine Science identified Timor-Leste has having one of the world’s highest concentrations of dolphins and whales.