French Polynesia just created the world’s largest MPA — on World MPA Day, reflections on what implementation will take

French Polynesia recently made ocean conservation history. In June 2025 on the opening day of the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC), President Moetai Brotherson announced the island nation had designated its entire Exclusive Economic Zone a marine protected area (MPA) — establishing the world’s largest at 4.8 million square kilometres. 

Within this massive protected area, ~1.1 million square kilometres will be fully protected (Class I) or highly protected (Class II) zones where fishing or extractive activities are completely prohibited or heavily restricted. To put this in perspective, even just the highly protected area is around twice the size of continental France, while the entire MPA is more than five times larger than all marine protected areas in Europe combined. (Across OceanMind’s portfolio of work, we monitor a similarly expansive 4.5 million square kilometres, so we’re no stranger to the true size and scale of French Polynesia’s new MPA.)

This historic designation matters because MPAs are ocean lifelines. Globally, they serve as havens for millions of marine species that support the entire ocean food web, providing refuge for more than two-thirds of threatened marine species. They’re also economic powerhouses and foster biodiversity, enabling ocean life to better adapt to the effects of a changing climate.

Five challenges for implementation, and how to tackle them

French Polynesia’s MPA designation has been rightly celebrated, from mainstream media to ocean conservation NGOs. For the government and its agencies, implementing the MPA comes next. As they do so, they’ll tackle five core challenges:

1. Vast geographic area: The MPA’s enormous expanse means that it will be extremely difficult to patrol and monitor effectively.
2. Remote and dispersed archipelago: French Polynesia consists of 118 islands, making access to remote MPA zones logistically complex and costly.
3. IUU fishing: The vast MPA is vulnerable to illegal fishing, especially by industrial distant water fleets (DWFs).
4. Limited financial and human resources: French Polynesia has a small population and budget, limiting enforcement personnel and operational capacity.
5. Limited maritime infrastructure: Few large ports or maritime bases mean longer response times for intercepting violations.

These challenges are neither unique to French Polynesia, nor are they insurmountable. In OceanMind's experience ensuring the sanctity of ~5 million square kilometres of MPAs spread across every ocean basin, there are a suite of tools and best practices that help jurisdictions bridge from MPA designation to effective realisation. They include:

• Satellites and AI: Use of satellite surveillance, employing AI-powered analysis for vessel tracking systems (AIS, VMS), and automated remote sensing detectability with satellite imagery can bring the MPA’s vastness within reach
• International collaboration: French Polynesia can collaborate with international partners for joint surveillance missions and improve international cooperation to pursue offenders, including coordinating with regional Pacific island nations and the Forum Fisheries Agency under multilateral agreements/frameworks.
• Engage flag states: Ultimately, flag states are responsible for vessel activities at sea. Engaging a flag state early when suspicious activity is detected can result in rapid action.
• Leverage port states: All seafood catch must eventually be landed in a port.  Carefully analysing vessel movements and transshipments to determine where IUU catch enters port and working with port states to inspect and apprehend vessels prevents criminals from converting catch to cash.
• Enhanced legal deterrents: Stronger legal deterrents (e.g., fines, vessel blocklisting with adjacent RFMOs) as well as legal frameworks with clear penalties and rapid enforcement protocols can disincentivise illegal activity in the MPA.
• Diversify funding and resourcing: Considering different funding streams (aside from direct government funding) like international conservation funding and NGO partnerships, or public-private collaborations with research institutions and tech companies, can help address resourcing limitations.

Despite enforcement challenges, MPAs are working — and smart tech is playing a role

MPAs — especially large, remote ones — can be challenging to effectively enforce (1, 2, 3). But new research published earlier this month delivered some welcome news: “little to no industrial fishing occurs in fully and highly protected marine areas.”

Researchers found that, on average, fully protected MPAs had just one fishing vessel per 20,000 square kilometers during satellite overpasses — a density nine times lower than unprotected waters in nearby EEZs. 

Smart tech — including AI and satellite-based tools — are helping governments combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and preserve the integrity of their MPAs.

And on World MPA Day, here at OceanMind we’re proud to be part of the solution. For more than a decade, we’ve used satellites, AI, and human expertise to support enforcement across more than 5 million square kilometers of protected waters worldwide.

OceanMind has conducted multiple fisheries compliance assessments in the South Pacific, such as in the Pitcairn Islands to the east of French Polynesia, around Easter Island (Rapa Nui), and along the Chilean coast. Beyond the Pacific, we’ve supported MPA monitoring and enforcement for other remote archipelagos, such as Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic.

French Polynesia's historic designation represents ambitious ocean protection at unprecedented scale. On this World MPA Day and beyond, smart technology use will be key to turning that kind of ambition into reality, safeguarding the ocean that sustains us all.

image: Unsplash | Fabien Bellanger