On April 22, the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, a U.K. overseas territory, officially enacted a strengthened set of protections for its vast marine protected area (MPA). Following a detailed five-year scientific and policy review, the new measures include a major expansion of "no-take zones"—by 187,000 square kilometers—meaning that more than 470,000 square kilometers, or about 38% of the MPA, is now closed to all fishing. Additionally, with other new measures, krill fishing is now prohibited across more than 500,000 square kilometers within the MPA.
The expanded protections are important because the region’s waters—home to whales, seals, and the world’s largest penguin colony—are rebounding after centuries of exploitation thanks to safeguards of key migration and foraging corridors. With no permanent human residents, the ecosystem remains vibrant but increasingly threatened by climate change, record-low sea ice, and expanding krill fishing. Safeguarding these waters is critical to ensuring their long-term ecological health.
The new measures build on an already strong conservation framework. The government had previously established seasonal closures to limit fishing to periods when wildlife interactions are least likely and had banned bottom trawling throughout the entire 1.24-million-square-kilometer MPA. Under the updated rules, even during the five-month licensed fishing season, 40% of the MPA will stay closed to krill fishing and 95% closed to longline fishing, protecting vulnerable benthic ecosystems and key feeding areas for marine predators.
With the new and prior conservation actions, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands are setting the standard for how MPAs should be managed—backed by science and focused on long-term ocean health.
Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy congratulates the governments of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the U.K. for showing global leadership at a time when protecting biodiversity and ocean ecosystems is more critical than ever. As the world strives to protect at least 30% of the ocean by 2030, these actions demonstrate that bold, science-driven conservation is possible.
Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy—created by The Pew Charitable Trusts and Dona Bertarelli Philanthropy has supported expanded marine protections for SGSSI as a partner in the Great Blue Ocean coalition, along with the Blue Marine Foundation, Greenpeace UK, the Marine Conservation Society, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and the Zoological Society of London. This work was also supported by the Blue Nature Alliance, Bloomberg Ocean Initiative, Oceans 5 (which is a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors) and Whale and Dolphin Conservation.
Sovereignty over South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands remains contested by Argentina.
Johnny Briggs works on the Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy.