An expedition team led by National Geographic explorer-in-residence Enric Sala and Josh Reichert from the Pew Environment Group has recently returned from Pitcairn, one of Britain’s most remote Overseas Territories and home of the historical mutiny on the HMAV Bounty. Today they are calling on the UK Government to make the waters surrounding Pitcairn into the world's largest no-take marine reserve.The four-week expedition saw experts working with the Pitcairn Island Council to investigate scientifically the undersea paradise that surrounds the tiny island and uncovered a spectacular underwater habitat, inhabited by unique wildlife. Pew Environment Group and National Geographic are now working together with the Pitcairn islanders to establish a large scale, highly protected marine reserve to preserve this unique undersea ecosystem.
It is the British Foreign Secretary’s decision, through the Governor of the Pitcairn Islands, to declare a marine reserve, and the community of Pitcairn with Pew and National Geographic are now calling on him to do so.
Speaking today, Josh Reichert, Managing Director of Pew Environment Group said; "There are few places in the world’s oceans that remain relatively untouched by humanity’s relentless quest for fish and other resources. The waters around Pitcairn Island, one of the most remote islands on earth, are such a place. Changed little since the first Polynesians sailed through these waters over a thousand years ago, the British Government has a unique opportunity to protect one of the most pristine ocean environments left on the planet, an opportunity that once foregone will be hard to resurrect."
About Pitcairn and the proposed marine reserve
The islands, a British Overseas Territory, have a total land area of approximately 47 square kilometers (29 square miles). But the ocean area under the jurisdiction of the islands is vast—just over 830,000 square kilometers (320,465 square miles)—with relatively unspoiled marine ecosystems. The Pitcairn Islands group in the South Pacific is made up of four islands: Pitcairn, Henderson, Oeno, and Ducie. Pitcairn lies 4,500 kilometers (2,800 miles) from New Zealand, its closest landmass, making it one of the world’s most remote groups of islands.
The proposed marine reserve will encompass 99% of Pitcairn’s 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone and allow low impact traditional sustenance fishing for the islanders. Commercial fishing could continue within 12 nautical miles of Pitcairn Island and around 40 Mile reef.
At 834,334 sq km (extending from 12nm to 200nm) a Pitcairn Islands Marine Reserve would:
- Become the worlds’ largest marine reserve - over 30% larger than Chagos, over three times the size of Great Britain
- Protect 69 seamounts and 327 knolls - Seamounts provide important habitats for aquatic predators, demersal fish and benthic invertebrates. It is thought that seamounts also provide animals with enhanced opportunities for feeding, may act as navigational waypoints during migrations, and may be used as breeding grounds.
- Protect at least 1,249 marine species 48 of which are listed as critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable or near-threatened on the IUCN Red List; Includes 22 species of whale and dolphin, 365 species of fish and 2 species of turtle; Includes the world’s deepest known living plant, a species of encrusting coralline algae found at 382 metres below sea level.
- Protect the marine waters around:
- The two most southerly coral atolls in the world - Ducie and Oeno
- One of the world’s two remaining raised atolls with its ecology largely intact, protected as a World Heritage Site; -- Henderson (Aldabra in the Indian Ocean is the other);
- The deepest well-developed coral reef in the world - 40 Mile Reef;
- One of the most pristine coral atolls in the world - Ducie, which has the world’s second largest percentage of marine biomass made up of top predators, demonstrating how undisturbed it is.
Less than half of one percent of the world’s oceans are fully protected as no-take marine reserves. By comparison, more than 20 times as much land area receives this kind of protection. Having shared the results and captured visual data, support for a reserve was unanimous at an island residents meeting, followed by the full support of the Island Council, the locally elected body of Pitcairn.
The proposed marine reserve will encompass 99% of Pitcairn’s 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone and allow low impact traditional sustenance fishing for the islanders. Commercial fishing could continue within 12 nautical miles of Pitcairn Island and around 40 Mile reef.
Photo courtesy of blatantworld.com via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
