August 10, 2021

By Shubash Lohani

Tristan da Cunha—the world’s most remote inhabited island, roughly equidistant from South Africa, South America, and Antarctica—is home to about 260 residents with a vision and deep commitment to the conservation of their natural and cultural heritage. Their life has been based around the relationship with the sea as they depend on it for food and income from rock lobster - caught sustainably from inshore waters and exported via ship to Cape Town. To preserve its rich and largely intact marine ecosystem and its way of life, the community is leading an effort to protect over 90% of its territorial waters. 

Expected to be finalized in the coming weeks, the new marine protected zone (MPZ) will extend across more than 687,000 square kilometers (265,000 square miles) and become the largest in the Atlantic and fourth-largest fully protected marine reserve on the planet. 

These waters also provide a key feeding ground for the critically endangered Tristan albatross and endangered Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross, as well as the vulnerable spectacled petrel. The nutrient-rich ecosystem also supports 11 species of cetaceans, including Shepherd’s beaked whales and fin whales—the second-largest whale on the planet. And it serves as a breeding ground for 85% of the world’s endangered northern rockhopper penguins and is home to 80% of the world’s population of sub-Antarctic fur seals, as well as a colony of elephant seals.

The Tristan da Cunha residents proudly see themselves as the guardians of the South Atlantic, and the new safeguards will build on that long-standing commitment, including the previous action to conserving more than half of the archipelago’s land area. For over a decade, Tristanians have played a leading role in developing a science-based approach to conserving their marine environment, which has culminated in this upcoming MPZ designation.  

In collaboration with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and other partners, the Blue Nature Alliance is supporting a conservation trust fund and a range of management, science, and community engagement activities. These resources are expected to equip Tristanians for the effective management of the MPZ, providing long-term benefits to nature and the community. 

Tristan da Cunha’s ambitious and visionary leadership shows that even one of the world’s smallest and most isolated communities can make a significant global impact and should serve as an inspiration to others to protect our global ocean. 

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Tristan da Cunha