The United Kingdom has revealed plans to create the largest fully protected marine reserve in the world.
The total area of the planned reserve will reportedly be almost as big as Germany and France combined. It will be based on the remote archipelago called the Pitcairn Islands, which is an overseas territory of Britain where the descendants of sailors that staged the infamous mutiny on the Bounty naval ship in the year 1789 live.
"The government intends to proceed with designation of a MPA (Marine Protected Area) around Pitcairn," read the budget that was unveiled to parliament by George Osborne, the country's finance minister.
However, the government revealed that the finalization of the proposal will depend on the agreements for the planned satellite monitoring of the wide area, which would look to prevent ports from receiving illegally caught fish through the launch of sea patrols.
U.S. charity Pew Charitable Trusts, which has been the main proponent of the proposed reserve, said that it would cover an area of 834,334 square kilometers or 322,138 square miles. This would make Pitcairn the biggest continuous protected ocean area in the world.
The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, which was announced in 2014 by U.S. President Barack Obama, covers a wider ocean surface of 1.27 million square kilometers, or 789,141 square miles, but the reserve is composed of different, non-adjacent areas.
According to Pew, the Pitcairn Island reserve will lead to the protection of some of the most near-pristine marine habitat in the world. The location is home to over 1,249 species of mammals, fish and seabirds, including the plant known to live the deepest in the world. It is an encrusting coralline algae species that lives at depths of 382 meters or nearly a quarter of a mile below the surface.
Pew worked with National Geographic and the Pitcairn Island Council for the submission of the proposal to create the reserve in 2013.
According to Pew, the reserve will be guarded by the Virtual Watch Room, which is a system that could monitor the area using satellites. The system will be able to detect in real time any illegal fishing activities in the reserve.
Pew said that the Pitcairn Island Marine Reserve will be the first instance wherein a government will push for a combination of the formation of a marine reserve with the latest technology for the surveillance and protection of the reserve.
Helena Bonham Carter, a British actress that recently posed nude with a tuna fish to show support for the campaign to protect marine life, said that the creation of the reserve will allow threatened species of fish to recover.
