French Polynesia Announces World’s Largest Marine Protected Area at UN Ocean Conference

During the United Nations Ocean Conference this week in Nice, France, French Polynesian President Moetai Brotherson announced that the country will establish a marine protected area (MPA) spanning 4.8 million square kilometers.

The newly established MPA will surpass the U.S. Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in the Pacific Ocean, which spans 1.5 million square kilometers and is currently the largest MPA globally.

The MPA will cover all of French Polynesia’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and will include 900,000 square kilometers under strict protections, based on International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) categories I and II of protected areas, and another 200,000 square kilometers of coastal regions with strong protections, the president announced. The class I and II protected areas will allow traditional fishing, scientific study and eco-tourism only, Time reported.

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“We have been managing this EEZ wisely for centuries, using the techniques that were passed on from the generations before us and our ancestors,” Brotherson told Time. “But now we wanted to take a bold step to be in line with the international standards of the IUCN.”

The MPA will prohibit seabed exploitation, trawling and purse seining, which is a fishing method that uses a wall of nets around a school of fish or aquatic area where the nets act like a drawstring bag. As the net is pulled upward, the base of the net pulls shut to trap fish within the net walls.

“These waters are teeming with life — sharks, whales, sea turtles, and coral reefs that are among the healthiest ever studied,” M. Sanjayan, conservation scientist and CEO of Conservation International, said in a statement. “For the people of French Polynesia, the ocean is everything: it sustains livelihoods, nourishes communities, and anchors cultural identity. Protecting it means safeguarding a way of life — and offering the world a powerful example of bold ocean leadership.”

As IUCN reported, Brotherson also committed to adding another 500,000 square kilometers of highly protected areas by the next World Ocean Day on June 8, 2026.

Other countries will need to follow suit in ramping up ocean conservation efforts in order to meet the target set in 2020 to protect at least 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030. As of May 2025, Global Plastic Action Partnership reported that only 8.3% of global oceans are protected.

Razan Al Mubarak, IUCN president, said, “This level of ambition is what the world needs to help turn the tide back in favour of a healthy and productive ocean. We applaud French Polynesia for its vision and hope this sets a new trend in the establishment of large scale highly protected MPAs.”