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Good News for Marine Life: The Phoenix Islands Protected Area

A giant reef in the South Pacific has gotten a major reprieve. The island nation of Kiribati has created the world's largest protected marine reserve, and it's about the size of California:

The Phoenix Islands Protected Area, covering 410,500 square kilometers, is one of the planet's last intact coral archipelagos and is threatened by over-fishing and climate change, [environmental] groups say.

It lies near the equator about half way between Fiji and Hawaii.

This new reserve is bigger than the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument west of Hawaii (137,797 square miles) and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia (345,000 sq km.)

The US-based group Conservation International, along with the New England Aquarium, is helping the Kiribati government to manage and fund the uninhabited area. A tough challenge for the reserve is coastal erosion, but the site is also overfished and thus the Kirbati government will need some money for surveillance.

So get out your wallets people! No, just kidding. We don't think this place is taking donations but we wonder... is it taking tourists?

Related Stories:
· Kiribati Creates World's Largest Marine Reserve [Reuters]
· South Pacific coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: DS355]