World’s Most Remote Island Creates Largest Atlantic Ocean Sanctuary

In the South Atlantic Ocean, a tiny island of 250 people has made a significant contribution to global marine conservation by protecting a huge swath of ocean under its control. To reach Tristan da Cunha, a UK overseas territory, one must make a seven-day boat trip from South Africa, reported National Geographic . The island chain recently announced that 700,000 square kilometers (270,271 square miles), or 90% of its territorial waters, will be designated as a large marine protected area (MPA) to safeguard the area’s rich biodiversity and endangered animals , The Guardian reported. At that size, it will be three times the size of Britain, the largest marine sanctuary in the Atlantic and the fourth largest in the world, providing refuge to sevengill sharks, whales and seals, AP News continued. The new wildlife refuge will be a "no-take" zone, baning bottom-trawling fishing, deep-sea mining and other harmful and extractive harvesting from its waters, National Geographic reported. This will also protect the foraging grounds of tens of millions of seabirds that roost on the island, such as endangered Tristan and yellow-nosed albatross, Atlantic petrel and rockhopper penguins. Critically, these protections will bolster the small Tristan Rock Lobster commercial fishery […]

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