French Polynesia President Announces Highly Protected Marine Area
The highly protected areas will safeguard 220,000 square kilometres of remote waters near the Society Islands and 680,000 square kilometers near the Gambier Islands.
Speaking at the United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, France, President Moetai Brotherson pledged to protect nearly 23 percent of French Polynesia's waters.
"In French Polynesia, the ocean is much more than a territory - it's the source of life, culture, and identity," he said.
"By strengthening the protection of Tainui Atea (the existing marine managed area that encompasses all French Polynesian waters) and laying the foundations for future marine protected areas... we are asserting our ecological sovereignty while creating biodiversity sanctuaries for our people and future generations."
Once implemented, this will be one of the world's single-largest designations of highly protected ocean space in history.
Access will be limited, and all forms of extraction, such as fishing and mining, will be banned.
The government is also aiming to create a highly protected artisanal fishing zone that extends about 28 kilometres from the Austral, Marquesas, and Gambier islands and 55-and-a-half kilometres around the Society Islands. Fishing in that zone will be limited to traditional single pole-and-line catch from boats less than 12 metres in length.
Together, the zones encompass an area about twice the size of continental France.
President Brotherson also promised to create additional artisanal fishing zones and two more large, highly protected MPAs within the next year near the Austral and Marquesas islands.
He also committed to bolster conservation measures within the remainder of French Polynesia's waters.
Donatien Tanret, who leads Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy's work in French Polynesia, said local communities have made it clear that they want to see stronger protections that reflect both scientific guidance and their ancestral culture for future generations.
"These protections and commitments to future designations are a powerful example of how local leadership and traditional measures such as rāhui can address modern challenges."
Samoa announces MPAs
Before the conference, Samoa adopted a legally binding Marine Spatial Plan - a step to fully protect 30 percent and ensure sustainable management of 100 percent of its ocean.
The plan includes the establishment of nine new fully protected MPAs, covering 36,000 square kilometres of ocean.
Toeolesulsulu Cedric Schuster, Samoa's Minister for Natural Resources and Environment, said Samoa is a large ocean state and its way of life is under increased threat from issues including climate change and overfishing.
"This Marine Spatial Plan marks a historic step towards ensuring that our ocean remains prosperous and healthy to support all future generations of Samoans - just as it did for us and our ancestors."
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Valls also said earlier this week that he did not see New Caledonia's deal as an instrument to be adapted to other French Pacific countries and territories because, in his view, it was tailored just for New Caledonia and its very specific situation. However, the recent pact with New Caledonia "opens new perspectives", French Polynesia's President Moetai Brotherson, who belongs to the pro-independence Tavini Huiraatira party headed by his father-in-law Oscar Temaru, said earlier this week. Since he came to power in May 2023, Brotherson has mentioned the subject on several occasions, urging France to initiate formal talks on the matter. Arriving at Tahiti-Faa'a international airport, Valls was treated with Polynesian dances and garlands. During the seven days of his stay, Valls - who was appointed to the position in December 2024 - is scheduled to travel to several French Polynesia's outer islands and archipelagos. This includes the main island of Tahiti, its sister island of Mooera, but also the Marquesas, Rangiroa or Rurutu (Austral -Southern- islands group). Valls said he intends to discuss a range of topics, including environment and climate change, renewable energy-related projects, infrastructure but also recent announcements and pledges made at the recent French-hosted UNOC (UN Oceans Summit) in Nice (France), or the next Pacific Games to be hosted by French Polynesia in 2027. "It's all very well to declare strongly protected marine areas, but now we need more means to monitor and be able to project ourselves at sea. That's what I'll be pleading (with Valls)", Brotherson told local media earlier this week. One of the topics to be discussed in the coming days is monitoring French Polynesia's huge exclusive economic zone (EEZ) to fight against unreported and illicit fishing and the rising issue of international drug trafficking, increasingly in cooperation with neighbouring powers such as the United States, Australia and New Zealand law enforcement (police, defence, customs) agencies. Just hours before Valls set foot at Tahiti airport, another shipment of a staggering 900kg of cocaine and 180kg of methamphetamines was seized in Nuku Hiva (Marquesas Islands) aboard a transiting sailboat, apparently travelling from Mexico to Australia. French law enforcement authorities have also arrested two men, one Dutch and one German. They are now kept in custody pending further investigation, the local Public Prosecutor's office said in a statement on Wednesday. French Polynesia and other South Pacific Islands are increasingly used by narco-traffickers as transit points on an ocean route linking South America to targeted markets such as Australia. Earlier this year, in the face of an increasing presence and consumption of methamphetamines (dubbed "ice") in French Polynesia now affecting "one in ten" inhabitants, President Moetai Brotherson called for help, saying the issue now required to be made a matter of priority and urgency. Earlier this month, French Polynesia's Territorial Assembly (parliament) unanimously backed a motion to fight against the addictive drug, with an available budget of around two million Euros. Another narcotics-related project currently mooted would be to set up a sniffer dogs training centre, with French assistance. Brotherson said he also intended to raise the subject of the medical consequences of French nuclear tests in French Polynesia between 1966 and 1996. A report compiled by French Polynesia's MP in the French National Assembly, Mereana Reid-Arbelot, recommended that the consequences of these nuclear tests and its related illnesses within the population (especially cancers) should be recognised and the list of nuclear-related diseases eligible for compensations should be extended. The report also recommends that France should formally apologise to French Polynesia for conducting those tests in the atolls of Moruroa and Fangataufa. Speaking mid-May, before a French National Assembly Commission of Enquiry on the consequences of French nuclear tests, Valls said he was in favour of a larger list of eligible nuclear-related diseases, but an official apology could only come from French President Emmanuel Macron. "France owes its nuclear power to Polynesians and French Polynesia", Valls told the Commission, saying there was a "need for recognition" of this, based on "historical, political and moral" factors. One of the projects related to this "duty of memory" was a "Pu Mehara" Memorial to be funded by France for the sake of future generations. According to its latest report released in May 2025, French transfers in French Polynesia have totalled 1.86 billion Euros for 2024, about one third of French Polynesia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
