BANGKOK - The Marshall Islands has designated coral rich waters around two of its remotest Pacific Ocean atolls as a marine sanctuary, hoping to protect an 18,500 square mile (48,000 square kilometer) expanse that an expert says is a window into untouched ocean conditions of a millennium ago.
The seas around the uninhabited Bikar and Bokak atolls are the Marshall Islands first marine sanctuary, its government said this week. The atolls harbor colonies of seabirds and green turtles and the most outstanding coral reefs in the central and western Pacific.
National Geographic and Marshall Islands marine officials studied the atolls during a 2023 expedition that with hundreds of dives and a submersible documented prolific sea life to depths of 2,340 meters (7,677 feet).
“Bikar and Bokak’s coral reefs are a time machine, like diving in the ocean of 1,000 years ago,” said Enric Sala, the director of National Geographic’s Pristine Seas project.
“In these remote atolls, we saw the healthiest coral, giant clam, and reef fish populations in the central and western Pacific,” he said in a statement. “They are our best baselines for what the ocean could look like if we truly let it be.”
