The government of French Polynesia announced it is expanding the extent of ocean where extractive industries like seabed mining and industrial fishing will not be allowed. With this move, 30% of French Polynesia’s waters will now be fully protected.
Last year on June 8, French Polynesia, a French overseas territory, established the Tainui Atea marine protected area. It spans nearly 5 million square kilometers (2 million square miles) of its exclusive economic zone, the area of ocean that French Polynesia has exclusive rights to conserve and manage. Some 900,000 km2 of this (about 350,000 mi2), located near the Society Islands and the Gambier Islands, are fully protected waters where no extractive fishing or mining is allowed.
On June 7, 2026, French Polynesia President Moetai Brotherson announced that French Polynesia would expand its fully protected waters by another 520,000 km2 (200,000 mi2) near the Austral, Marquesas and Western Society islands. This brings about 1.4 million km2 (540,500 mi2) or 30% of French Polynesia’s waters under full protection from extractive industries.
“French Polynesia has maintained a moratorium on seabed mining in its waters since 2022, reaffirmed by the Presidency in 2025, and banning it was part of the 2025 protection commitments,” Donatien Tanret, principal officer of the Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy, which helped develop the conservation plan, told Mongabay by email.
The protected area has artisanal fishing zones where local people are allowed to continue fishing and sustain their local communities, but industrial fishing in prohibited, Tanret said.
In 2025, artisanal fishing zones collectively covering 190,000 km2 (73,000 mi2) were created. Meanwhile, more than 8,000 km2 (3,088 mi2) of artisanal fishing zones will be added in 2026, Tanret said. Fishing is limited to single pole-and-line catch from boats less than 12 meters (39 feet) in length.
The protected area was established by consensus of the communities within French Polynesia, and more than a decade of advocacy from local mayors, Tanret said.
He added that France helps enforce the protections by conducting surveillance, including satellite vessel-tracking and operational support on the ground.
The new protected zone will help conserve 20 species of sharks including the critically endangered scalloped hammerhead (Sphyrna lewini) and oceanic whitetip (Carcharhinus longimanus). The protected zone is also one of the few known breeding sites for 22 bird species, including the endangered Polynesian storm-petrel (Nesofregetta fuliginosa), the vulnerable Phoenix petrel (Pterodroma alba), as well as Murphy’s petrel (Pterodroma ultima), which flies thousands of kilometers across the Pacific between feeding trips.
The protections will also support swordfish, bigeye tuna and opah that live in the Austral and Marquesas, as well as 455 mollusk species, 60 pelagic (or open-ocean) fish species, three sea turtle species and 10 marine mammal species.
“This is our mission as Oceanians,” President Brotherson told AFP. “We also hope that it can inspire other countries, especially the larger ones, in the way they manage their relationship with the ocean.”
Header image: Sharks in French Polynesia. Image courtesy of Hannes Klostermann, Ocean Image Bank. Written by Maxwell Radwin. This article was originally published by Mongabay.
