Palau leader in ‘world first’ underwater interview

SYDNEY – The President of tiny Pacific island nation Palau has sunk to new depths – claiming to be the first world leader to conduct a live interview immersed entirely underwater.

In a bid to raise awareness about the importance of protecting the ocean, Mr Surangel Whipps Jr, who leads the nation of roughly 17,600 people, conducted the interview with a “mermaid” alongside a giant clam.

His office said the undersea chat was facilitated by technology called the LiFi Talking Mask, which uses light to transmit sound underwater, promoted by social entrepreneur Gunter Pauli.

“Palau successfully hosted the world’s first-ever live underwater conversation with a head of state,” his office said.

Footage released by Mr Pauli’s group, the Blue Economy, which facilitated the chat, showed Mr Whipps in underwater gear speaking to the “mermaid” – Estonian Olympic swimmer and activist Merle Liivand.

But the slightly garbled audio suggests the technology might still be a work in progress.

Palau is an archipelago of around 340 islands east of the Philippines and is extremely vulnerable to rising seas.

Mr Whipps has acknowledged that some of his country’s atolls could be lost in coming years.

In a post-dive debrief, he said: “Palau has always believed in the sustainable use of the oceans. It’s in our DNA.”

Then Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed made waves in 2009 when he held an underwater Cabinet meeting with scuba-clad officials.

In 2019, former Seychelles president Danny Faure conducted an interview from a submersible craft in the Indian Ocean. AFP