When the mutineers of the HMS Bounty landed on Pitcairn Island in 1790, they believed they had found the perfect refuge: a fertile Eden in a remote corner of the South Pacific where Capt. William Bligh and the rest of the British navy could never find them.
Some 225 years later, the island and its waters may soon become a sanctuary of a different kind. The British government said Wednesday that it intends to designate a vast area around the island as the world’s largest protected marine reserve, assuring that its natural riches will remain pristine for generations to come.
The plan to designate the region as a Marine Protected Area is spelled out in budget documents released by British officials, and is contingent on finalizing agreements for satellite monitoring and enforcement in the proposed ocean park. But barring a technical hitch, restrictions will be soon be imposed on a 322,000-square-mile area around Pitcairn and three sister islands that contains an unusual wealth of coral reefs as well as marine species ranging from sea mammals to sharks, according to scientists involved in planning for the preserve.
“It was like traveling to a new world full of hidden and unknown treasures,” said Enric Sala, a marine biologist and explorer-in-residence for National Geographic who participated in a 2012 scientific expedition to the islands. With the creation of the sanctuary, he said, the area’s biological bounty “will now be preserved for generations to come.”
