National Geographic reports that the 4,000-square-mile expansion of the marine protected area (MPA) around the extraordinarily biodiverse waters of Cocos Island National Park committed to by former Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solís failed to be enacted. The report states that this was due to pressure from local fishing interests.
On February 21, 2018, the Seychelles announced the designation of two new Marine Protected Areas, covering an area of roughly 81,000 square miles. The first MPA covers 29,000 square miles around the Aldabra island group which is home to the dugong (the most endangered animal in the Western Indian Ocean) as well as about 100,000 giant tortoises. The second MPA covers the deep waters between the Amirantes Group and Fortune Bank, an area important to tourism and local fishing.
On Friday, President Obama has quadrupled the size of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument off the coast of Hawaii. It will now contain some 582,578 square miles, more than twice the size of Texas. It is home to 7,000 marine species. All commercial resource extraction activities, including commercial fishing and any future mineral extraction, will be prohibited from the whole area.
The Nature Conservancy, in conjunction with the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, have created the second largest marine protected area in the West Indian Ocean. The move increases the protections in the waters surrounding the Seychelles from one percent to more than thirty percent. Image from Shutterstock.
The Huffington Post reports that Chile and the U.S.A. have both announced new marine reserves at the Our Ocean Conference currently being held in Chile.
The Nature Conservancy has announced that The Bahamas Government has announced 15 new parks and three park expansions in the waters surrounding the islands.