Tiny Remote Island Creates Largest Marine Sanctuary in Atlantic

The world’s most remote inhabited archipelago just creating the largest marine sanctuary in the Atlantic Ocean, a major step in ocean conservation.

Tristan da Cunha, a U.K. territory in the South Atlantic, designated 90 percent of its territorial waters—more than 265,000 square miles—as a marine protected area to safeguard the region's unique biodiversity.

The volcanic island, with it whopping population of about 250 people, is home to many endangered species, including sevengill sharks, whales, seals, and millions of seabirds, including two albatross species, Atlantic petrel and rockhopper penguins.

The MPA, which is almost three times the size of Britain, is a no-take zone, meaning extractive practices that can harm these species, such as bottom-trawling or deep-sea mining, will be banned.

"This small community is responsible for one of the biggest conservation achievements of 2020," Beccy Speight, chief executive of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, says in a press release. "This will protect one of the most pristine marine environments on the planet."

Tristan da Cunha’s MPA will be part of the Blue Belt program, a $35.5 million-U.K initiative to preserve marine areas in its overseas territories. The U.K plans to send resources to help the island patrol for fishing and other illegal activity within the MPA.

The program has designated about 1.6 million square miles, or about 1 percent of the world’s oceans, as protected to date, Prime Minister Boris Johnson says in the release, though 97 percent of the MPAs surrounding the U.K are reportedly subjected to bottom trawling.

Earlier this year, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity proposed a global target of protecting 30 percent of the world’s oceans by 2030. Scientists say this is the minimum threshold needed to preserve marine ecosystems long term. At this point, about 8 percent of oceans are protected, but under 3 percent are no-take zones.

“I am now calling on other nations to join us in our ambition to protect 30 percent of the world’s ocean by 2030,” Johnson says. “We need collective global action if we are to bequeath a world that is every bit as wonderful and magnificent as the one we inherited.”

Islanders are similarly enthusiastic about the protections around their remote territory.

"Our life on Tristan da Cunha has always been based around our relationship with the sea, and that continues today,” James Glass, the territory's chief islander, tells The Guardian. “The Tristan community is deeply committed to conservation: on land, we’ve already declared protected status for more than half our territory. But the sea is our vital resource, for our economy and ultimately for our long-term survival… We’re proud that we can play a key role in preserving the health of the oceans.”