In the latest in a string of positive events on the ocean-protection front, Great Britain will create the world’s largest marine sanctuary, called the Pitcairn Islands Marine Reserve. The reserve will cover an area of 322,000 square miles and protect some of the world’s most pristine waters.
Located in the South Pacific, the Pitcairn Islands are famous as the location where the mutineers from the Bounty made land in 1790. With this decision by the British government, however, the islands and the waters around them will now offer a sanctuary not to mutineers seeking refuge, but to more than 1,200 species of marine animals, including several species of sharks, whales and dolphins.
The island of Pitcairn and the three surrounding islands are home to pristine coral formations, making this an important breeding ground for several species. Their remote location, almost 3,000 miles from New Zealand and almost directly in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, has afforded these islands a sort of natural protection, which has helped preserved the underwater environment. The depletion of commercial fishing grounds around the world and the ever-increasing demand for oil, natural gas and other fuels have increasingly put even the world’s most remote corners under pressure, however, a pressure that the British government seeks to alleviate to some degree with this marine sanctuary.
Satellite monitoring technology will be utilized to ensure that commercial fishing boats don’t stray into the area, by accident or on purpose, and no drilling rights will be granted. The satellite monitoring will be handled by the Pew Charitable Trust, under their Project Eyes on the Seas program, which uses satellite tracking to ward off illegal fishing. While many commercial fishermen are aware of the existence and rules of marine sanctuaries, they also know that it’s difficult, if not impossible, to patrol vast areas of the ocean, and thus have continued to conduct illegal fishing activities. Project Eyes on the Seas makes this rule breaking increasingly difficult, as satellite tracking isn’t dependent on the presence of a coast guard or environmental-organization patrol boat to ensure that illegal vessels are caught.
The recent announcement marks the successful end of a campaign by conservationists and local residents of Pitcairn, who have petitioned since 2013 to have the area protected. Great Britain was able to create this sanctuary, as the Pitcairn Islands are among the nation’s 14 Overseas Territories, remnants of its colonial past. The Overseas Territories encompasses more than 2.6 million square miles of ocean, or more than 30 times the size of the U.K. itself. The creation of the Pitcairn Islands Marine Reserve, along with the Chagos Marine Reserve in the Indian Ocean, declared in 2010 and at the time the world’s largest marine reserve, means that the U.K. now administers the world’s two largest marine reserves, and that nearly 22 percent of Britain’s territorial waters are protected.
