June 27, 2025 • 10 mins
French Polynesia marine protected area is now the largest in the world, covering nearly 4.8 million square kilometers of ocean. This groundbreaking conservation effort was announced during the United Nations Ocean Conference and includes large no-take zones near the Society and Gambier Islands, along with expansive areas that restrict harmful activities like deep-sea mining and bottom trawling. The MPA recognizes traditional fishing rights while also preserving critical marine habitats.
Marine conservation leadership by French Polynesia demonstrates how small island states can make bold commitments to global biodiversity. Backed by IUCN standards and set to expand by another 500,000 km² by 2026, this initiative offers hope in a world where only 8.3% of the ocean is currently protected. In this episode, we explore what this means for ocean life, local communities, and global marine policy—and why the real work begins now with enforcement and support.
Link to article: https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/french-polynesia-creates-worlds-largest-marine-protected-area/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
French Polynesia has created the world's
largest marine protected
area, spanning nearly its
entire exclusive economic zone, it's EZ
at about 4.8 million kilometers square.
The announcement happened at the United
Nations Ocean Conference
that I was at in France.
I didn't actually see the announcement,
but it was the big talk
of the town and it marks
a major leap in marine
(00:22):
conservation efforts.
We're going to talk about why that does
it on this episode of
the How to Protect the
Ocean podcast.
Let's start the show.
Hey everybody, welcome back to another
exciting episode of the How
to Protect the Ocean podcast.
I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.
This is the podcast where you find out
what's happening with the
ocean, how you can speak
up for the ocean, what you can do to live
for a better ocean by taking action.
On today's episode, we're going to be
(00:43):
talking about the world's
largest marine protected
area.
That's French Polynesia.
They protected 4.8 million square
kilometers and it's huge.
And we're going to talk about why this
happening and the
significance of it and what's actually
in the details of the NPA because a lot
of times we talk about
marine protected areas
and PAs and as a lot of times
they end up being paper parks.
They're just for show and they don't
(01:03):
really protect much or they
get protected for a little
bit and then they get rescinded.
Some of it gets rescinded to opening up
the fishing or there
are some marine protected
areas like in the UK that allow bottom
trawling, which isn't
helping the recovery of fishery
species.
So there's a lot to talk about here.
We're going to get into it, but before we
do, I just wanted to
let you know, have you
ever felt like you want to connect to
ocean conservation a little bit more?
(01:24):
Listening to this podcast sometimes
helps, but sometimes you
feel like you want to do
more.
I want you to think about joining our
community at the undertow.
And the reason why is because this is a
community that supports
wave makers, individuals and
people who are supporting a mission, who
are leading a mission
to protect the ocean.
We're going to be
talking about the ocean.
We're going to be meeting at least once a
month to be able to
talk just as a community
(01:45):
to talk about ocean conservation
practices and ocean
conservation general and how we
can guide you to become a better ocean
steward, even if you live
in the middle of a landmass
like I do here in Ontario.
So there's a lot of things that you can
do in this community.
So join it, go to speakupforblue.com
forward slash join the
undertow that speakupforblue.com
(02:06):
forward slash join the undertow.
We're going to be starting this community
and kicking it off very soon.
So just sign up now and you'll get access
to the community very soon.
All right.
Let's get back into this great news of
this marine protected
area in the French Polynesian
islands. So like I mentioned, total area
4.8 million
kilometers, roughly 18 times the
size of Great Britain. It's also fully
(02:28):
protected. 1.086 million square
kilometers is fully protected.
And it's the twice the size of mainland
France, 900,000 square
kilometers of no take zones,
220 square kilometers near the society
islands and 680,000 square
kilometers near the Gambier
islands, artisanal fishing
zones, 186,000 kilometers squared.
(02:49):
So that means for traditional line
fishing and small scale spear fishing.
So for artisanal fishers only that's
available to them and
then broader protections.
The rest essentially has limits of
extractive activities like deep sea
mining and bottom trawling.
So there are just different management
zones within this larger marine protected
area, which is wonderful.
(03:10):
So by World Oceans Day in 2026, there's
going to be an additional 500,000 square
kilometers that will be designated as a
highly protected zone.
And then this graduate rollout just shows
that commitment to
ramping up protection over time.
So this is how it works.
Really, when you start putting together a
marine protected area and you do it
(03:31):
properly like this one seems to have been
done, you include people
right from the beginning.
So you include the people whose the water
is important, the coastline is important
to them from a cultural perspective, plus
from a fishing perspective, from a
community perspective.
You also include like government
entities, you include conservation
organizations, you include scientists and
other experts and traditional experts as
(03:53):
well as part of that culture.
And you all talk together right from the
beginning and it may not be a smooth
sailing kind of process.
There's going to be conflict, there's
going to be arguments, there's going to
be times where you may not agree and
people are going to have to compromise.
Each side of every little thing of every
ocean user is going
to have to compromise.
But when you do it properly and you set
(04:14):
aside enough zones for everybody and you
are able to make sure that this marine
protector is going to do its job.
It's not just going to be the world's
largest marine protected area, but it's
going to be the world's largest
functional and
successful marine protected area.
That's what you shoot for. And to me,
right off of this article that I saw in
manga Bay news, this looks like this
(04:36):
marine protected area is starting off
right with the promise of an additional
500,000 square kilometer protection
designated as highly
protected in 2026, only a year later.
There's a lot to go into this, but this
is really great. The president, Motaya, I
think I'm pronouncing it
properly, Motay, maybe.
Brotherson emphasized ancestral
(04:57):
stewardship and alignment with IUCN
standards. So they're following all the
protocols. So Aguilar, IUCN DG praise it
as globally significant spotlighting how
small island nations can
lead in sustainability.
And then conservation NGOs, including
IUCN and the Pew charitable trust applaud
the move. So Scott support from cultural
(05:18):
significance and communities.
It's got the praise of IUCN.
It's got the praise of major
organizations that help people in these
communities be able to get the
information, the resources that they need
to do this type of work.
And that's a Pew charitable trust as well
as other like conservation international
and so forth. There's a lot of other
organizations that get involved.
So now why is it matter to have this
(05:39):
marine particularly? Why is it so
important? So there's a biodiversity
boost right after this. So you're
protecting critical habitats so that
sharks, whales, sea turtles, and some of
the healthiest coral reefs recorded have
protections, protections
from extractive processes.
Now, this doesn't protect these coral
reefs or other habitats from climate
change, but it does protect any kind of
(05:59):
other human disturbance that's around.
Now there's a cultural and livelihood
significance of the ocean sustains
Polynesian communities, both economically
and spiritually. So the fact that
importance went into the planning and
went into the results of
this protected area is huge.
And then global leadership. This sets a
bold example that only 8.3% of global
(06:20):
oceans are currently protected fall short
of the 30 by 30 targets.
So there's a percent by 30 by 2030, but
this helps bring it up to I believe it
was almost 10%. So it helps just in this
one marine protected area, but it's not
just a marine protected area to say we
have the largest marine protected area.
It's a marine protected has zones, the
specific zones to meet all the criteria
(06:40):
that I mentioned earlier, the cultural
aspect, the science aspect, the
environmental aspect, right? And
protecting it from future threats such as
deep sea mining is really important here.
So additional measures, so strengthening
fisheries management with public input,
just as I mentioned before, banning deep
sea mining and fish aggregating devices
will help and allow these populations to
(07:02):
recover within this marine protected area
and then spill over outside the
boundaries to allow better fisheries in
the future and more
sustainable fisheries in the future.
So obviously emphasizing community
involvement and traditional ecological
knowledge is really important in these
processes. And that's what these did
seeking international cooperation funding
from like the Pew charitable trust and
(07:22):
the IUCN having legal protections require
enforcement support.
So this really helped in that. And then
looking at it comparatively to the
Phoenix Islands protected area in
Kiribati, which only covers approximately
408,000 square kilometers, we're looking
at an order of magnitude more and other
MPA examples such as the Ross Sea,
Papahana, Mokuakea, Coral Sea, none of
(07:45):
which match the Antarctic Arctic scales,
but these things are huge.
This is the largest marine protected area
to help out with those percentages. It
stands out as the largest default and in
its exclusive economic zone and it's EEZ.
So that's a huge thing for French
Polynesia. It's leading the battle and
making sure that we
protect the 30% by 2030.
So essentially, on presses in scale and
(08:07):
ambition, marking a new standard for
marine protected area, including
everybody in the area showing that you
can have inclusive processes with a huge
marine protected area, which really helps
and almost its entire
exclusive economic zone.
It's a balanced approach conservation
zones having sustainable traditional
fishing allowing to happen and future
(08:27):
planning for more protections, which will
be great and it demonstrates an effective
use of ancestral knowledge, strong
governance and compelling
model for other nations.
This is huge. And the challenge now lies
in the implementation, the enforcement
and the global support. I think they'll
get the global support. I'm not sure if
it'll be financial. Hopefully it will be
on an ongoing basis. There are different
ways to fund these types of management
(08:49):
practices in the future.
I know the island of Newey that I had on
a couple of years ago, actually working
with Conservation International and the
Blue Nature Alliance, they were able to
almost like not auction off the property,
but they were able to support like a
square kilometer of marine protected area
for the next 20 years.
I think if you paid a certain fee, I
think it was like $240 US or $240
(09:09):
Canadian. I can't remember. But then you
got to say, hey, you know what? I'm
actually supporting this little piece of
area for the next 20 years so that they
can implement and enforce these
management practices.
And so it really helped by it with that
global support, which I thought was
great. So I think this is really
important. Just imagine protecting nearly
5 million square
kilometers of oceans properly.
(09:30):
It's not considered a paper park or it
probably won't be considered a paper
park. I hope it's not. So I think this is
really great. There's a lot of work that
needs to be done in creating more marine
protected areas, whether they be large,
whether they be small, whether they be a
network of marine protected areas.
There's a lot more that we have to do. We
still have 20 more percent to reach the
30 by 30. And of course, we need to think
beyond that. We need to think about near
(09:51):
shore conservation. We need to think
about offshore conservation.
We need to think a lot more and making
sure that the marine protect areas that
we do have are not just paper parks that
get implemented with better management
practices. So there's always work to be
done. Make sure you follow this podcast
wherever you listen to your podcast,
whether it's beyond YouTube, Apple
podcast, Spotify, whether it's been
anywhere. Make sure you tune in to hear
(10:12):
more about ocean use like this.
And if you want to join the undertow,
please do so go to speak up for blue.com
forward slash join the undertow. Be part
of our community. Be part of the ocean
community and help guide you to being a
better ocean steward because we just
provide you with information and the
facts of what you need to do. So it's
always great. Always fun. We're going to
have a great fun in there. Speak up for
blue.com forward slash join the undertow.
(10:34):
That's it for me today. I want to thank
you so much for joining me on this
episode of the how to protect the ocean
podcast. I'm your host, Andrew Lewin from
the true north strong and free. Have a
great day. We'll talk to you next time and happy.
French Polynesia has created the world's
largest marine protected
area, spanning nearly its
entire exclusive economic zone, it's EZ
at about 4.8 million kilometers square.
The announcement happened at the United
Nations Ocean Conference
that I was at in France.
I didn't actually see the announcement,
but it was the big talk
of the town and it marks
a major leap in marine
(00:22):
conservation efforts.
We're going to talk about why that does
it on this episode of
the How to Protect the
Ocean podcast.
Let's start the show.
Hey everybody, welcome back to another
exciting episode of the How
to Protect the Ocean podcast.
I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.
This is the podcast where you find out
what's happening with the
ocean, how you can speak
up for the ocean, what you can do to live
for a better ocean by taking action.
On today's episode, we're going to be
(00:43):
talking about the world's
largest marine protected
area.
That's French Polynesia.
They protected 4.8 million square
kilometers and it's huge.
And we're going to talk about why this
happening and the
significance of it and what's actually
in the details of the NPA because a lot
of times we talk about
marine protected areas
and PAs and as a lot of times
they end up being paper parks.
They're just for show and they don't
(01:03):
really protect much or they
get protected for a little
bit and then they get rescinded.
Some of it gets rescinded to opening up
the fishing or there
are some marine protected
areas like in the UK that allow bottom
trawling, which isn't
helping the recovery of fishery
species.
So there's a lot to talk about here.
We're going to get into it, but before we
do, I just wanted to
let you know, have you
ever felt like you want to connect to
ocean conservation a little bit more?
(01:24):
Listening to this podcast sometimes
helps, but sometimes you
feel like you want to do
more.
I want you to think about joining our
community at the undertow.
And the reason why is because this is a
community that supports
wave makers, individuals and
people who are supporting a mission, who
are leading a mission
to protect the ocean.
We're going to be
talking about the ocean.
We're going to be meeting at least once a
month to be able to
talk just as a community
(01:45):
to talk about ocean conservation
practices and ocean
conservation general and how we
can guide you to become a better ocean
steward, even if you live
in the middle of a landmass
like I do here in Ontario.
So there's a lot of things that you can
do in this community.
So join it, go to speakupforblue.com
forward slash join the
undertow that speakupforblue.com
(02:06):
forward slash join the undertow.
We're going to be starting this community
and kicking it off very soon.
So just sign up now and you'll get access
to the community very soon.
All right.
Let's get back into this great news of
this marine protected
area in the French Polynesian
islands. So like I mentioned, total area
4.8 million
kilometers, roughly 18 times the
size of Great Britain. It's also fully
(02:28):
protected. 1.086 million square
kilometers is fully protected.
And it's the twice the size of mainland
France, 900,000 square
kilometers of no take zones,
220 square kilometers near the society
islands and 680,000 square
kilometers near the Gambier
islands, artisanal fishing
zones, 186,000 kilometers squared.
(02:49):
So that means for traditional line
fishing and small scale spear fishing.
So for artisanal fishers only that's
available to them and
then broader protections.
The rest essentially has limits of
extractive activities like deep sea
mining and bottom trawling.
So there are just different management
zones within this larger marine protected
area, which is wonderful.
(03:10):
So by World Oceans Day in 2026, there's
going to be an additional 500,000 square
kilometers that will be designated as a
highly protected zone.
And then this graduate rollout just shows
that commitment to
ramping up protection over time.
So this is how it works.
Really, when you start putting together a
marine protected area and you do it
(03:31):
properly like this one seems to have been
done, you include people
right from the beginning.
So you include the people whose the water
is important, the coastline is important
to them from a cultural perspective, plus
from a fishing perspective, from a
community perspective.
You also include like government
entities, you include conservation
organizations, you include scientists and
other experts and traditional experts as
(03:53):
well as part of that culture.
And you all talk together right from the
beginning and it may not be a smooth
sailing kind of process.
There's going to be conflict, there's
going to be arguments, there's going to
be times where you may not agree and
people are going to have to compromise.
Each side of every little thing of every
ocean user is going
to have to compromise.
But when you do it properly and you set
(04:14):
aside enough zones for everybody and you
are able to make sure that this marine
protector is going to do its job.
It's not just going to be the world's
largest marine protected area, but it's
going to be the world's largest
functional and
successful marine protected area.
That's what you shoot for. And to me,
right off of this article that I saw in
manga Bay news, this looks like this
(04:36):
marine protected area is starting off
right with the promise of an additional
500,000 square kilometer protection
designated as highly
protected in 2026, only a year later.
There's a lot to go into this, but this
is really great. The president, Motaya, I
think I'm pronouncing it
properly, Motay, maybe.
Brotherson emphasized ancestral
(04:57):
stewardship and alignment with IUCN
standards. So they're following all the
protocols. So Aguilar, IUCN DG praise it
as globally significant spotlighting how
small island nations can
lead in sustainability.
And then conservation NGOs, including
IUCN and the Pew charitable trust applaud
the move. So Scott support from cultural
(05:18):
significance and communities.
It's got the praise of IUCN.
It's got the praise of major
organizations that help people in these
communities be able to get the
information, the resources that they need
to do this type of work.
And that's a Pew charitable trust as well
as other like conservation international
and so forth. There's a lot of other
organizations that get involved.
So now why is it matter to have this
(05:39):
marine particularly? Why is it so
important? So there's a biodiversity
boost right after this. So you're
protecting critical habitats so that
sharks, whales, sea turtles, and some of
the healthiest coral reefs recorded have
protections, protections
from extractive processes.
Now, this doesn't protect these coral
reefs or other habitats from climate
change, but it does protect any kind of
(05:59):
other human disturbance that's around.
Now there's a cultural and livelihood
significance of the ocean sustains
Polynesian communities, both economically
and spiritually. So the fact that
importance went into the planning and
went into the results of
this protected area is huge.
And then global leadership. This sets a
bold example that only 8.3% of global
(06:20):
oceans are currently protected fall short
of the 30 by 30 targets.
So there's a percent by 30 by 2030, but
this helps bring it up to I believe it
was almost 10%. So it helps just in this
one marine protected area, but it's not
just a marine protected area to say we
have the largest marine protected area.
It's a marine protected has zones, the
specific zones to meet all the criteria
(06:40):
that I mentioned earlier, the cultural
aspect, the science aspect, the
environmental aspect, right? And
protecting it from future threats such as
deep sea mining is really important here.
So additional measures, so strengthening
fisheries management with public input,
just as I mentioned before, banning deep
sea mining and fish aggregating devices
will help and allow these populations to
(07:02):
recover within this marine protected area
and then spill over outside the
boundaries to allow better fisheries in
the future and more
sustainable fisheries in the future.
So obviously emphasizing community
involvement and traditional ecological
knowledge is really important in these
processes. And that's what these did
seeking international cooperation funding
from like the Pew charitable trust and
(07:22):
the IUCN having legal protections require
enforcement support.
So this really helped in that. And then
looking at it comparatively to the
Phoenix Islands protected area in
Kiribati, which only covers approximately
408,000 square kilometers, we're looking
at an order of magnitude more and other
MPA examples such as the Ross Sea,
Papahana, Mokuakea, Coral Sea, none of
(07:45):
which match the Antarctic Arctic scales,
but these things are huge.
This is the largest marine protected area
to help out with those percentages. It
stands out as the largest default and in
its exclusive economic zone and it's EEZ.
So that's a huge thing for French
Polynesia. It's leading the battle and
making sure that we
protect the 30% by 2030.
So essentially, on presses in scale and
(08:07):
ambition, marking a new standard for
marine protected area, including
everybody in the area showing that you
can have inclusive processes with a huge
marine protected area, which really helps
and almost its entire
exclusive economic zone.
It's a balanced approach conservation
zones having sustainable traditional
fishing allowing to happen and future
(08:27):
planning for more protections, which will
be great and it demonstrates an effective
use of ancestral knowledge, strong
governance and compelling
model for other nations.
This is huge. And the challenge now lies
in the implementation, the enforcement
and the global support. I think they'll
get the global support. I'm not sure if
it'll be financial. Hopefully it will be
on an ongoing basis. There are different
ways to fund these types of management
(08:49):
practices in the future.
I know the island of Newey that I had on
a couple of years ago, actually working
with Conservation International and the
Blue Nature Alliance, they were able to
almost like not auction off the property,
but they were able to support like a
square kilometer of marine protected area
for the next 20 years.
I think if you paid a certain fee, I
think it was like $240 US or $240
(09:09):
Canadian. I can't remember. But then you
got to say, hey, you know what? I'm
actually supporting this little piece of
area for the next 20 years so that they
can implement and enforce these
management practices.
And so it really helped by it with that
global support, which I thought was
great. So I think this is really
important. Just imagine protecting nearly
5 million square
kilometers of oceans properly.
(09:30):
It's not considered a paper park or it
probably won't be considered a paper
park. I hope it's not. So I think this is
really great. There's a lot of work that
needs to be done in creating more marine
protected areas, whether they be large,
whether they be small, whether they be a
network of marine protected areas.
There's a lot more that we have to do. We
still have 20 more percent to reach the
30 by 30. And of course, we need to think
beyond that. We need to think about near
(09:51):
shore conservation. We need to think
about offshore conservation.
We need to think a lot more and making
sure that the marine protect areas that
we do have are not just paper parks that
get implemented with better management
practices. So there's always work to be
done. Make sure you follow this podcast
wherever you listen to your podcast,
whether it's beyond YouTube, Apple
podcast, Spotify, whether it's been
anywhere. Make sure you tune in to hear
(10:12):
more about ocean use like this.
And if you want to join the undertow,
please do so go to speak up for blue.com
forward slash join the undertow. Be part
of our community. Be part of the ocean
community and help guide you to being a
better ocean steward because we just
provide you with information and the
facts of what you need to do. So it's
always great. Always fun. We're going to
have a great fun in there. Speak up for
blue.com forward slash join the undertow.
(10:34):
That's it for me today. I want to thank
you so much for joining me on this
episode of the how to protect the ocean
podcast. I'm your host, Andrew Lewin from
the true north strong and free. Have a
great day. We'll talk to you next time and happy.
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