Read the January edition of theSEVENSEAS marine conservation and travel magazine. The story of the Marine Conservation Institute Awarding Seven Blue Parks Global Ocean Refuges for the Most Effective Conservation of Marine Life is very worth reading, as it is related to the mission of LT&C. SEVENSEAS, as a partner of LT&C, works with minimal operating costs to produce this highly relevant and valuable marine conservation and travel communication channel.

At the 2018 Our Ocean Conference, where representatives from about one hundred nations around the world and hundreds of marine conservationists are gathered, Marine Conservation Institute announced that seven new blue parks have been selected to receive its Global Ocean Refuge System Award. The newest members of the Global Ocean Refuge System (GLORES, pronounced “glories”) all meet the highest science-based standards for biodiversity protection and best practices for management and enforcement. These strong marine protected areas and no-take reserves will make an outstanding contribution to saving marine life for future generations.

Marine Conservation Institute awards Global Ocean Refuge status to marine protected areas (MPAs) for actively safeguarding the world’s most valuable and biodiverse ocean habitats, sustaining marine biodiversity and increasing populations of marine life. Marine Conservation Institute’s objective for the award is to bring special recognition to nations, decision makers and site managers who effectively protect their marine ecosystems and to incentivize better ocean protection worldwide. Our hope is that this network grows and inspires nations around the world to strongly protect 30% of the ocean’s most important places by 2030.

“The most accurate and widely accepted tally of all MPAs”

At the Fall 2017 Our Ocean conference in Malta, the Pristine Seas Initiative presented its Malta Declaration where MPAtlas.org was recognized as “the most accurate and widely accepted tally of all MPAs.” The Malta Declaration emphasized the current overestimation of global marine protection and highlighted our work to withhold unimplemented sites from MPA coverage numbers as a more transparent and accurate method of tallying accurate marine protection levels. The inclusion of MPAs that are designated but unimplemented overestimates current protections on the water where it counts. Because many implemented areas do not offer full protection, only 2% of the global ocean is strongly protected today. Dr. Sala also asserted that the term “MPA” is overused and that marine protected areas should include verifiable ocean protection. They called on nations to create, implement, and enforce real MPAs in their EEZs and on the high seas. As nations hopefully heed this powerful message, MPAtlas will continue showing “true” marine protection.

​​ “If we are to get to 10% of the ocean protected by 2020, we need to implement what has been committed, enact what has been suggested, and create new fully protected areas.  We also call on nations of the world to accelerate the creation, implementation, and enforcement of genuine protected areas within their exclusive economic zones and in the high seas.”