Marshall Islands yesterday declared its first national marine sanctuary, protecting a “pristine” expanse of tropical Pacific Ocean home to deep-sea sharks and green turtles.
Like many Pacific islands, the low-lying Marshall Islands is highly vulnerable to climate change and rising seas, which has placed “extreme pressure” on its biodiversity, the World Bank said in 2021.
The nation announced that it has banned fishing in the waters surrounding two northern isles, an area teeming with vibrant corals, rare giant clams and reclusive deep-sea sharks.
Photo: AFP / Enric Sala / National Geographic Pristine Seas
“The only way to continue benefiting from the ocean’s treasures is to protect it,” Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine said in a statement. “I am proud of our country’s first marine sanctuary, which certainly won’t be its last.”
The sanctuary lies to the east of Marshall Islands’ Bikini Atoll, which the US bombarded with experimental nuclear bombs throughout the 1940s and 1950s. It covers 48,000km2 — dwarfing Switzerland — and surrounds the uninhabited atolls of Bikar and Bokak, which are renowned green turtle nesting grounds.
“We aim to preserve the ecological integrity of this region to ensure that these two atolls remain pristine for future generations,” the country’s Marine Resources Authority said in a statement.
Conservationist Enric Sala said Marshall Islands was home to some of the healthiest marine ecosystems in the Pacific Ocean.
“This new marine sanctuary protects global biodiversity jewels,” said Sala, who founded the National Geographic Pristine Seas expedition that surveyed the atolls in 2023.
“These pristine atolls are time machines that show us what the ocean was like before humans, and what coral reefs could be in the future if we so wish,” he said.
The 2023 trip documented “little-known deep-sea communities with potentially new species of fish,” a “large abundance of vulnerable species” and “abundant deep-sea sharks.”
The Marshall Islands — population 40,000 — are a chain of coral atolls and volcanic isles lying between the Philippines and Hawaii. Its economy relies heavily on fishing.
Non-profit Global Fishing Watch estimates that at least one-third of domestic government revenue comes from tuna alone. Illegal fishing operations have regularly plundered its waters over the years.
Marshall Islands in 2011 set aside almost 2 million square kilometers for what it said was the world’s largest dedicated shark sanctuary.
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
Packed crowds in India celebrating their cricket team’s victory ended in a deadly stampede on Wednesday, with 11 mainly young fans crushed to death, the local state’s chief minister said. Joyous cricket fans had come out to celebrate and welcome home their heroes, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, after they beat Punjab Kings in a roller-coaster Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket final on Tuesday night. However, the euphoria of the vast crowds in the southern tech city of Bengaluru ended in disaster, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra calling it “absolutely heartrending.” Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said most of the deceased are young, with 11 dead
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
RSS