Marine Conservation Areas in Pacific Losing Protection
August 24, 2026
Several vast conservation areas in the Pacific Ocean are losing protection as the US government opens portions of them to commercial fishing, NPR reports. In Issues, Tundi Agardy, an early advocate for establishing marine protected areas, calls such conservation areas “urgently needed” for several critical reasons. “They can protect key habitats and boost fisheries production inside and outside the reserves,” she writes. “They also can provide model or test areas for integrating the management of coastal and marine resources across various jurisdictions and for furthering scientific understanding of how marine systems function and how to aid them.”