Chagos Archipelago Mission Team

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What We Learned: Marine Protected Areas Work in Conserving Coral Reefs

December 14, 2021

Managing marine resources is a challenge for communities around the globe. On the Global Reef Expedition, we had the opportunity to visit protected and unprotected reefs in both remote locations and those regularly used by humans. The degree of protection varied, but we found that areas with the highest protection had the healthiest reefs.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are a tool commonly used by governments and communities to manage their marine resources. An MPA can have varying degrees of regulations, including no-take and no-entry where no fishing is allowed and entrance into the park is not permitted, to varying permitted use that regulate the fishing and use practices. Some of the countries we visited, such as Australia (Northern Great Barrier Reef), Palau, and New Caledonia have large human populations utilizing the reefs and have prioritized establishing large protected and managed areas to conserve their nearshore reef systems.

Shifting Sands: Keeping up with Sea Level Rise on the Wild Islands of the Chagos Archipelago

July 27, 2021

Eco Magazine Special Issue: Sea Level Rise July 19, 2021 Following the discovery of a rich portfolio of vintage aerial photographs of the atoll islands in the Chagos Archipelago from the 1960s, scientists are learning how the coastline of these uninhabited tropical islands …

Last Stop on the Global Reef Expedition

July 27, 2021

Chagos News July 23, 2021 By Liz Thompson Scientists aboard the Global Reef Expedition – the largest systematic coral reef survey and mapping expedition in history – travelled to Chagos Archipelago to explore its remote coral reefs. What they found …

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