Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, largest MPAs

In 2014, US President Barack Obama created the world's largest fully protected marine area. “Using his executive authority he has expanded the existing Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument to six times its current size, resulting in 490,000 square miles of protected marine environment....The monument will be off limits to commercial fishing and other resource extraction activities, such as deep sea mining... Located in the central Pacific Ocean, the protected area is a critical marine ecosystem that supports both species and people. Covering 130 seamounts— mountains rising up from the ocean floor -—this is the home of deep coral reefs, sharks, turtles, rays, seabirds and many more ocean species. The area is also vulnerable, threatened by the impact of climate change and ocean acidification.”