The French Polynesian government announced on 9 June that 520,000 square kilometres of ocean surrounding the Austral and Marquesas Islands would receive the highest level of formal conservation protection, where no mining, trawling or industrial fishing is permitted.
The designation marks the single largest national contribution to the global goal of protecting 30 per cent of the planet’s lands and waters by 2030. French Polynesia‘s 118 islands are scattered across one of the most remote and biodiverse stretches of ocean on Earth, sheltering fish, sharks, whales and turtles in reef systems and coastal lagoons that have sustained communities for generations.
The new protections carry IUCN Category 1 status, the highest formal conservation designation, meaning fishing and resource exploitation are tightly controlled. Artisanal fishing, central to local food security and culture, will be preserved. Last year, French Polynesia made a historic move to protect all of its waters — an expanse roughly the size of the European Union.
“This cements French Polynesia’s place as the global leader in marine conservation,” said Maël Imirizaldu, a regional lead for the Blue Nature Alliance, a global coalition co-founded by Conservation International. “Their determination to preserve the ocean demonstrates that it is not simply a commodity, it’s the matrix that sustains all of us.”
Funding mechanism targets autonomy for local stewardship.
To fund long-term management, a group of funders known as the Te Moana Collective — including the Blue Nature Alliance, Becht Foundation, Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Marine Foundation, Bloomberg Ocean Fund, Oceans 5, Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy and the Wyss Foundation — has committed US$ 15 million in seed funding for a conservation trust fund. The goal is to give the government and local communities the resources to steward these waters autonomously for the next 15 to 20 years.
The Marquesas and Austral archipelagos host marine species found nowhere else on Earth, such as the Marquesan domino damselfish. They are also critical habitat for endangered sharks, whales, dolphins and sea turtles, as well as a key spawning ground for tuna. That abundance has not gone unnoticed. Foreign industrial fishing fleets have long operated just outside the island nation’s marine boundary, using fish aggregation devices that drift through protected waters, harvesting fish before the devices are collected beyond the boundary. Those same devices frequently wash ashore, polluting beaches and damaging reefs.
The biggest threat, however, is climate change. Rising seas are already polluting freshwater that islanders depend on, while salting the soil and making it nearly impossible to grow crops. Marine heatwaves have led to staggering amounts of coral bleaching, and an increase in cyclones has been linked to outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish, a species that feeds on coral and, when populations explode, devastates entire reef systems and the fish communities depend on. For coastal families who rely on fishing for food, the losses show up in empty nets and shrinking catches.
French Polynesia maintains what is considered one of the most sustainable fisheries models in the Pacific, with low commercial catch volumes, rigorous monitoring and social rights for workers at sea. The new protections are designed to defend that foundation against the forces eroding it. Momentum for the protections has been building for over a decade. Alongside the government, local fishers and conservationists, Conservation International worked to make this moment possible through the Blue Nature Alliance and in partnership with Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy.
Source: Conservation International.
More from the field: Conservation.
