A major marine reserve is to be created by Britain in the South Atlantic island of Ascension.
The island is one of the 14 British Overseas Territories. Half of the its waters will see fishing closed while the other half will have a tuna fishery guided by international standards.
The final boundaries of the reserve have yet to be decided but should be clear by 2017. It is likely to measure 234,291 kilometres square.
The waters, described as a “hope spot”, are rich with extraordinary species, including some of the world’s largest marlin, one of the biggest populations of green turtles, large colonies of tropical seabirds and the island's own unique frigate bird.
"Ascension Island has rich marine biodiversity, with globally important nesting areas for green turtles, internationally significant seabird colonies and several inshore marine species found nowhere else on earth," said conservation philanthropist Louis Bacon.
The charitable Bacon Foundation has kick-started the project with a grant of £300,000 which will be administered by the Blue Marine Foundation on behalf of Ascension’s government.
The funds will go to enforcement over the coming fishing season and for surveillance, science and management for the next 18 months.
Charles Clover, Blue Marine Foundation’s chairman, said: "Ascension has been at the frontiers of science since Charles Darwin went there in the 19th century, so it is entirely appropriate that it is now at the centre of a great scientific effort to design the Atlantic's largest marine reserve."
Ascension Island authorities have pledged that environmental considerations will be at the heart of fisheries management and that waters will be protected from illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
