Our Work
Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy supports the creation and expansion of marine protected areas (MPAs) that qualify as highly or fully protected, meaning extractive activities such as fishing, drilling, and mining are restricted. The partnership also seeks to establish connections between MPAs to conserve areas and corridors that marine life relies on for breeding and migration, and to help communities strengthen connections to the ecosystems they depend on. Currently, the partnership’s work focuses primarily on four regions: the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, the Southern Ocean and sub-Antarctic islands, and the Western Pacific Ocean.
Since 2017, the Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy’s work has contributed to the designation or expansion of Ecuador’s Hermandad Marine Reserve; Mexico’s Revillagigedo Archipelago National Park; National Nature Reserve of the French Southern Territories; the Natural Park of the Coral Sea in New Caledonia; Rapa Nui Multiple Use Marine Coastal Protected Area in Chile; Australia’s Christmas Island Marine Park and Cocos (Keeling) Islands Marine Park; and, in the waters of U.K. overseas territories, the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands Marine Protected Area, Ascension Island Marine Protected Area, and Tristan da Cunha Marine Protection Zone.


Baja California's Pacific and the Sea of Cortez
The nutrient-rich waters of the Pacific Ocean attract marine life and people to an epicenter of biodiversity.


French Polynesia
The waters around French Polynesia are home to 21 species of sharks and an exceptional coral reef system that supports 176 coral and 1,024 fish species.


Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea covers less than 1% of the global ocean, yet it hosts one of the planet's greatest reservoirs of marine and coastal biodiversity.


New Caledonia
New Caledonia is home to an incredible array of marine life, including more than 1,700 fish and 473 coral species, and one of the world’s largest lagoons.


Protecting Antarctica's Southern Ocean
Antarctica’s Southern Ocean is one of the world’s last great wilderness areas, surrounding the coldest, driest, windiest, and least altered continent.


Rapa Nui
Easter Island's waters contain geological hot spots and areas of rare biodiversity. They are home to migratory fish species and feature seamounts ranging from 8.4 million to 13.1 million years old.


The Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor
The eastern tropical Pacific Ocean encompasses the sovereign waters of Columbia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Panama.