200,000 square miles of ocean are now safe forever

French Polynesia will fully protect 200,000 square miles of ocean, roughly twice the size of Arizona, the government announced this month. The new preserve, called Te Tai Nui a Hau, sits near the Austral, Marquesas and Western Society islands. It brings the nation's total protected waters to about 540,500 square miles. Fishing is not banned outright. In designated artisanal zones, locals can still cast from boats under 12 meters using a single pole and line, the way their families always have. The waters hold seabirds, whales and species found nowhere else on Earth. Once the rules take effect, 30% of French Polynesia's ocean will be off-limits to extraction. "Communities across the Austral and Marquesas islands have spent years shaping a collective vision for conserving their ocean that reflects both their cultural traditions and their future needs," said Donatien Tanret of Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy. The plan took more than a decade. The fish, presumably, did not notice the wait.