French Polynesians Want Stronger Ocean Protections

A new poll finds that French Polynesians are concerned about threats to their waters in the South Pacific Ocean, which provide habitat for marine species found nowhere else in the world.

More than 90% of French Polynesians support proposals to protect the waters around two archipelagos, the Austral and Marquesas islands. The findings come from a representative poll of 1,378 French Polynesians commissioned by Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy in partnership with the Ministry of Marine Resources and the Environment and conducted by Alvea Consulting in October and November.

The results bolster the findings of a similar survey conducted in 2019, showing that French Polynesians are increasingly concerned about the health of the ocean and declining fish stocks.

Nearly 80% of poll respondents in 2024 say the ocean in French Polynesia is not sufficiently protected from human activities, and two-thirds think the ocean is in poor health and deteriorating.

Over the past decade, French Polynesian communities have advocated for the creation of two large-scale, highly protected marine reserves in their waters. These protected areas would prohibit industrial fishing and mining with the goal of minimizing biodiversity loss and maintaining productive fisheries.

In 2016, the people of the Austral Islands, which include five inhabited and two uninhabited islands located in the southern portion of French Polynesia’s waters, called on the French Polynesian government to establish a 1 million-square-kilometer (386,102-square-mile) marine protected area called the Rāhui Nui nō Tuha’a Pae. The 2019 poll showed 78% of respondents supported it.

In 2018, mayors in the Marquesas Islands, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, requested that the government establish a 430,000-square-kilometer (166,024-square-mile) marine protected area called the Te Tai Nui a Hau. The 2019 poll showed 73% of people supported the effort.

In the latest poll, support for both initiatives increased to 92% of French Polynesians, including support from 95% of the Austral population and 94% of Marquesans, demonstrating the community’s strong desire for the government to protect the ocean. Since last September, French Polynesia’s Ministry of Marine Resources and the Environment has sought public feedback from local communities to establish both marine protected areas.

Respondents also favored additional marine protections, including 81% supporting the government’s plan to establish artisanal fishing zones that would ban longline vessels from operating in coastal waters around all of French Polynesia’s 118 islands, as well as 90% supporting the creation of rāhui within lagoons, a local practice that involves banning access to an area to allow habitats to regenerate and species to develop to optimal harvesting size, or populations to grow beyond typical harvesting levels.

The establishment of marine protected areas around the Austral and Marquesas islands would help French Polynesia reach its goal of highly protecting 30% of its exclusive economic zone.