This work assesses the ability of tidal resources at two locations in the Western Pacific to supply enough power to support persistent oceanographic sensing equipment. We consider the extraction of energy in (1) the three Indonesian straits of Lombok, Ombai, and Timor, and (2) the four Philippines straits of Mindoro, Panay, Tablas, and Dipolog via a small-scale, bottom-mounted turbine. We then relate the estimated harvestable power to its ability to support generic acoustic modem transmissions.