List of marine protected areas

A marine protected area (MPA) is a protected area that includes primarily marine environment and biodiversity.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) defines a protected area as:

"A clearly defined geographical space, recognised, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values."

This definition is intended to make it more difficult to claim MPA status for regions where exploitation of marine resources occurs. If there is no defined long-term goal for conservation and ecological recovery and extraction of marine resources occurs, a region is not considered a marine protected area.

As of June 2019 there are 14,830 marine protected areas with a total area of 27,495,595 km2 (10,616,109 sq mi) representing 7.59% of the ocean.

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