A massive new marine protected area (MPA) has been established in the eastern Atlantic off the coast of the Azores.
Covering 287,000 square kilometers of ocean makes it the largest MPA network in the North Atlantic—the size of Virginia and Georgia combined.
15% of Azorean waters are now designated as fully protected and 15% as highly protected, which means that fishing and other extractive activities will either be restricted or banned in the area.
The Azores, a chain of nine volcanic islands in the Atlantic Ocean that are part of Portugal, is surrounded by deep-sea corals, whales, dolphins, sharks, manta rays, fish, and unique hydrothermal vent ecosystems—much of which is now protected.
The decision of what and how much to protect came about through a thorough surveying expedition, informing a highly participatory process shepherded by the regional government.
The announcement comes as the world prepares for the UN Biodiversity Conference at the annual summit for the parties to the Paris Climate Agreement, known shorthand as the COP.
At the last summit, in 2022, the world agreed to protect 30% of land and ocean by 2030. Right now, only 8% of the ocean is protected in some way and less than 3% is fully or highly protected.
“As negotiators gather in Cali, Colombia, to assess the state of nature protection, the case of the Azores provides a model of ocean protection for the world to follow,” said Enric Sala, the founder of National Geographic Pristine Seas, who took part in the scientific exploration of the area now under protection.
