“It’s like a glimpse of a world before people arrived” – huge marine shrine declared in the midst of the Pacific Ocean

The Republic of Marshall Islands has announced the country’s first marine shrine. It will protect the water around two of its uninhabited atolls, Bikar and Bokak and extends 18,500 square miles. The area – larger than all of Switzerland – will be fully protected from fishing.

“Bicar and Bokak are like a glimpse of a world before people arrived. It’s blooming with life, ”says Whitney Goodell, Marine Ecologist at National Geographic Inserted Sea.

“From abundant schools with fish in the reefs, to the bird -filled sky, to other worldwide views of the seabed, where deep -sea shaves swarm our cameras.”

The remote islands are biodiversity hotspots. In addition to being home to the endangered Brush-High Curlew and Marshall Islands’ largest green turtle colony, these atolls are “a refuge for reef sharks and the region’s only known aggregation of BumpHead-Paulgjfisk, a great planting of coral reef health health,” says Juan Mayorga, mar pristine lakes. These waters also have the highest coral cover and giant mussel densities in the central and the Western Pacific.

These protections are part of the country’s conservation framework: Reimaanlok. Meaning ‘Look Against the Future’, this approach bases its actions on traditional knowledge and cultural insight – Coastal Society designs their own plans for how to use the islands’ natural resources in a sustainable way.

“The sea as our ancestors knew it is disappearing,” says Dr. Hilda Heine, president of the Republic of Marshall Islands. “Without sustainable sea ecosystems, our economy, stability and cultural identity will collapse. The only way to continue to take advantage of the ocean treasures is to protect it. “

The Reimaanlok was informed by a scientific report created as a result of a national geographic pristine lakes and Mimra expedition to Bikar and Bokak in 2023. The researchers spent about 643 hours under water on 452 diving collection of information about these pristine ecosystems. They even explored the deep sea and took a submersible down to 2,340 meters below the surface.

“Bikar and Bokak’s coral reef are a time machine, such as diving in the sea 1,000 years ago,” says Enric Sala, National Geographic Explorer in residence and founder of pristine lakes. “In these remote atolls, we saw the healthiest corals, giant clams and reef fishing populations in the central and Western Pacific. They are our best base lines for what the sea could look like if we really leave it.”

The garden created within marine protected areas (MPAs) has a ring effect: increased fish populations in the surrounding ecosystems that supply food and livelihood for the local communities. “Protection of high biodiversity areas provides benefits to local communities that depend on fish and other aspects of a healthy environment,” says Glen Joseph, director of Marshall Island’s Marine Resources Authority (Mimra). “Our future depends on protecting our sea.”

Heine adds: “I’m proud of our country’s first marine sanctuary, which certainly won’t be the last.”

Main Image: Marshall Islands Marine Sanctuary/National Geographic pristine sea

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