Tristan da Cunha Marine Protection Zone

The capital and largest settlement on the archipelago is Edinburgh of the Seven Seas. The main island of Tristan da Cunha has a population of approximately 250 people.

Tristan da Cunha is a UK Overseas Territory of volcanic islands located in the South Atlantic, over 1,500 miles from Cape Town in South Africa - a six day trip by boat from there as there is no airstrip on the islands - and it is one of the richest marine areas in the world.
Thankfully, this area of 265,000 square miles has now been designated a Marine Protection Zone (MPZ) making it the largest no-take zone in the Atlantic. The islands of Gough Island and Inaccessible Island were already a World Heritage site, but now the marine life of the area is also going to be protected.

The islands and the surrounding waters are home to a wide range of birds and mammals, many of which are endangered.

The critically endangered Tristan albatross

Blue shark

Southern elephant seal

Spectacled petrel

Northern rockhopper penguins

Subantarctic fur seals

Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross

Sooty albatross

The designation of these waters as a Marine Protection Zone means there will be no deep-sea mining activities or bottom-trawling fishing within the zone.
This came about after 20 years of work from the RSPB, the UK government Blue Belt Programme, and a range of other organisations, including National Geographic Pristine Seas and the Great British Oceans Coalition, but most importantly of all, the 250 inhabitants of the island itself.

Oceans are vitally important for the whole of the world, not least in helping to provide oxygen for the atmosphere and maintaining stable climates.
Hopefully, the areas of our oceans nearer to home can also start to be protected in this way as they should be, before it’s too late for their inhabitants.

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