Shoal of horse-eye jack

Great Blue Ocean Coalition

Great Blue Ocean is a coalition between the Marine Conservation Society, the Blue Marine Foundation, Greenpeace, the Pew Trusts, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Zoological Society of London.

Working together for success

Together, we work on the Blue Belt Programme – a UK Government initiative with a goal to protect and sustainably manage over four million km2 of oceans around the UK Overseas Territories.

We’ve seen great successes as several large Marine Protected Areas have been designated in the waters of participating territories.

In the South Atlantic, these include protections and improved management in the waters around Ascension Island, Tristan da Cunha and St Helena.

Coney grouper  |  Image credit: David M. Stone

In the Pacific and in the Southern Ocean, MPAs have been designated in Pitcairn Islands and in the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) respectively.

Combined with the MPA around the British Indian Ocean Territory, which the initiative helps to manage and enforce, the UK and its Overseas Territories will soon have 2,888,000 km2 of their waters fully protected, amounting to 42% of the collective total.

In 2019 we co-hosted a workshop with the UK Government to bring together engaged parties from all sides to encourage a better understanding of marine challenges in the Caribbean UK Overseas Territories and to decide the future direction of this initiative.

An orange fish with black and white stripes along its body is staring out of a purple sea anemone. The sea anemone makes up a large part of the camera shot.

Clownfish and sea anemone  |  Image credit: sirtravelalot

Our advocacy has paid off, with the UK Government announcing the world's largest ocean monitoring network. As part of the Blue Belt Programme, this is focusing on the UK Overseas Territories and includes four out of the five Caribbean territories.

Building on this massive success, we'll continue working to secure long-term UK Government funding for a bespoke Blue Belt Programme that is tailored towards the Caribbean territories.

Check out more of our work in the UKOTs

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